Hugh Grant and Jim Broadbent — who play Phoenix Buchanan and Samuel Gruber, respectively, in Paddington 2 — talk about the film, their characters and working with director Paul King.
HUGH GRANT
On being offered Paddington 2:
When this offer came through, the first thing I did was that I downloaded and watched the film (Paddington, 2014). I can’t believe I know how to download films now! I’m so young (smiles). And after I watched the film, I genuinely loved it. I thought it was very clever, not patronising. It never went sentimental... it was emotional, but never went icky. I liked the script they sent me for Part 2 and I said I better meet Paul King to make sure I don’t hate him! And I loved him. So it was easy.
About Phoenix Buchanan, his character in Paddington 2:
Phoenix Buchanan is the ex-star of the West End theatre. I say ‘ex’ because his career has taken a downturn largely through his own fault. His incredible vanity and narcissism meant that he became unhappy working with other actors because he couldn’t bear any of them getting any attention. And in the end, he stopped getting work. By the time our film starts, he survives on scraps of TV commercials for dog food!
On understanding and playing his character:
My only guide was the first Paddington which I loved. In terms of how broad to make my character, talking about costumes to Paul King... he kept saying bigger checked suits, madder hats. I heard that and thought, ‘Well okay, it can be quite big’.
On the depiction of London in Paddington 2:
It’s an idealised London we see, but an unashamedly idealised one. It’s not like we’re just leaving out the ugly bits. It’s a bit like the tone of the whole film, which is knowingly and self-avowedly positive, not just about London, but about human beings, about the power of being decent and well-mannered in the way that Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) taught Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) to be and how if you are that, things will come right.
On working with Paul King:
If you’ve just watched the film and have a drink with Paul for the first time, you’ll think he is the bear! Their eyes are the same. But then you have to remember when they’re doing the bear with the computer guys, Paul tells me that he acts out the scenes quite a lot for them. So it’s not surprising that they’ve created a bear that looks and behaves like him!
JIM BROADBENT
On returning to the Paddington franchise:
It was an absolute no-brainer to come back and play Mr Gruber in Paddington 2. It was great fun to do so the last time and the film was fantastic. It was surprisingly wonderful, a delight really! I liked everyone as they are a very happy bunch and Mr Gruber’s a lovely chap.
On the perfect blend of CGI and comedy in the films:
The CGI is just breathtaking. To get that level of humour into a CGI bear is just mind-blowing. It’s hard enough to deal with comedy when you have a face to deal with but to create it frame by frame is just gorgeous.
On being directed by Paul King:
He’s absolutely delightful. He’s very good with actors and working on scripts with them and getting an input from us and enjoying the process. He’s so smart, he’s got such a sharp brain but he keeps the set totally relaxed. You can be as creative as you can and want to be. It’s a very good working atmosphere.
On visualising Paddington 2:
Having seen the first film, you can easily imagine how Paddington is. The first time was a bit more of a mystery but with this one, we’ve all got an image of Paddington and we know that the tennis ball on a stick is, at the end, a delightful, charming, attractive young bear.
