Olivia Colman thought Paddington in Peru role was too good to be true
The Oscar winner joins the cast as a singing nun in the latest adventure for the beloved bear.
Olivia Colman has had a lot of great roles in her career: from early comedy work in the likes of Peep Show and Green Wing to hit TV dramas like Broadchurch and The Crown, not to mention an Oscar-winning film turn in The Favourite.
But her latest role as The Reverend Mother in Paddington in Peru might just be one of her best parts yet, and she explained in a recent exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com that she initially thought the job was simply too good to be true.
"To be in Paddington, great. Oh, dressed as a nun? Brilliant. A singing nun with a guitar? Ace. And a big finale with Antonio Banderas. It was like someone somewhere... It was going to go wrong because it was just too good. That sort of lovely job offer," she explained.
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The Reverend Mother is in charge of The Home for Retired Bears, where Aunt Lucy is based, and one of the most fun aspects of the character is that she gets to perform a theme tune of sorts when it's announced Paddington will be returning to his home country.
Asked how much preparation went into that particular scene, Colman revealed: "Most of our job is done by hair and makeup and wardrobe... And then I just had to listen to the song over and over and over again to try and learn it.
"And luckily, they realised quite quickly that I couldn't play the guitar and move, so I just had to mime!"
Of course, Colman isn't the only big name joining the cast for this latest instalment, as there's also a major role for Banderas as an Amazonian riverboat captain whom the Browns meet on their journey.
But as well as playing Hunter, Banderas also takes on the roles of several of his ancestors – who had previously met sticky ends in their hunt for gold – and this was a challenge that he very much enjoyed.
"Having to play scenes with myself, so you have to play one side first and then the other one, and things like that, that becomes kind of a challenging, but at the same time it's very fun," he explained.
"It was just fun, just to dress up like them, and to be around the set playing with the characters.... I would have loved to have more story with those characters, but it is what it is."
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Paddington in Peru is now showing in cinemas.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
