Olivia Colman compares ‘Paddington’ musical number to Beyoncé performance

Olivia Colman has compared her musical number in Paddington In Peru to a performance by Beyoncé.

The film is the third in the series of films revolving around the marmalade-loving bear created by Michael Bond, and sees Ben Whishaw returning as the voice of Paddington, alongside Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent and Antonio Banderas.

The film sees Paddington and his adopted Brown family visit the bear’s aunt Lucy in Peru, where they have to search the Amazon rainforest and Andean mountains to find her.

Colman stars as the Reverend Mother who prepares the Home For Retired Bears for the visit of Paddington and the family, and she features in a one-off musical sequence that is inspired by The Sound Of Music.

Speaking to Digital Spy, the Oscar-winning actor has reflected on the difficulty in filming the sequence. “It turns out people who can sing and play the instrument and move, it’s really hard,” she said. “I had to do one song, but it just makes suddenly you think of going to see anyone performing on stage, like Beyoncé with dance routines and singing.”

“I had a very long skirt and thankfully Jen White, the choreographer, said, ‘Well, luckily the skirt hides your feet,’ because I was going, ‘I literally can’t do everything all at the same time’, and so I was pretending [up here] and pretending [down here] and it’s really hard.”

It was also recently reported that Queen Elizabeth II will appear in photographic form in the film, following on from her skit with the character for the Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

Paddington In Peru completed its filming last year, and sees a new director join the franchise in Dougal Wilson, who has worked on high profile advertising campaigns as well as music videos for Coldplay.

“It’s been a joy and an honour to shoot Paddington in Peru with such a wonderful and talented cast and crew,” Wilson has said. “I feel incredibly lucky to have been blessed with such a lovely group of people, many of whom have returned to the world of this beloved bear. We are also delighted to have welcomed Emily, Olivia, Antonio and Carla to the Paddington family,” referring to newcomer Carla Tous, who replaced West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler in the cast.

The first Paddington film arrived in 2014, described by NME at the time as “managing to sign off with an unexpectedly touching message: in a big city filled with lots of different types of people, anyone, however much of an outsider, can find a way to fit in.”

Paddington 2, released in 2017, received a four-star review, with NME saying, “The result is another heartwarming and completely charming film with jokes that will tickle kids and adults alike. Bring on Paddington 3.”

Paddington In Peru is in cinemas now.

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