No Marmalade Please! Colin Firth Will Voice Paddington Bear In New Film

Colin Firth will provide the voice for an animated Paddington Bear in an upcoming adaptation of Michael Bond's cherished children's stories about a bear named after the station where he was found by the Brown family.

Colin Firth Will Voice Paddington...But Won't Have To Eat Marmalade Sandwiches.

The star of Bridget Jones and A Single Man will voice the marmalade-loving, duffel coat-wearing bear alongside performances from Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins as Mr. and Mrs. Brown. English favourite actors Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent will play a housekeeper and an antiques expert, respectively, whilst Moulin Rouge actress Nicole Kidman will play the villain in the movie: a malevolent taxidermist, it has been reported by BBC News.

Firth Will Lend His Voice To Cutting-Edge CGI Technology.

Firth has indicated that he will give the little brown bear's voice "a slight Peruvian flavour" and will also lend his facial expressions to the computer-animated character. "Every other character in the film will be real, live human beings," he explained to The Daily Mail, adding "But the idea is that Paddington will have something of me in his DNA because I'm going to do some sessions wearing one of those helmets with cameras to capture my face muscles, and all that data will somehow be incorporated into Paddington."

Watch A Clip From The Original TV Series:

"Then they'll use motion- capture equipment on someone more bear-size than me to do all the full body, bear stuff. I will do the table reading and rehearse with the other actors, but I won't do the voice work until much later on - some time next year," Firth continued at an interview promoting his latest film also starring Nicole Kidman, The Railway Man.

Nicole Kidman Prepares To Play An Evil Taxidermist.

Kidman too spoke of her excitement at being involved in the upcoming children's movie, which will be made by Harry Potter producer David Heyman. "My agent called and said: 'We've got this offer from London for you to be in a film about a Paddington Bear.' And I said: 'You mean the Paddington Bear?!" Nicole said, adding "I was read the stories when I was little and I grew up with Paddington. I know all about his adventures and what mischief he got up to."

Kidman Enjoyed Bond's Stories As A Child.

Author Michael Bond's Paddington Bear books told the story of a bear sent to England after his Aunt Lucy in Lima had to go and live in a home for retired bears. He arrived at London's Paddington Station with a parcel tag around his neck that said "Please look after this bear. Thank you." He is taken in by the kindly Brown family and has a whole host of adventures.

With shooting starting this Autumn, the Paddington Bear movie will be expected on release around Christmas 2014.