How the New Paddington Director Pulled Off a Mid-Credits Blinder Cameo

Warning: This interview spoils the mid-credits surprise in Paddington in Peru.

Taking up the mantle of a universally adored franchise was frightening, says Dougal Wilson, director of Paddington in Peru, his first-ever feature-length movie. “When I was asked to do the film, I was very flattered to be approached, but I was utterly terrified,” he explains, “as only a fool would take on the third film of a franchise, right?”

Thankfully, he benefited from a change in scenery. His movie transports the action from the previous West London–set films (directed by Paul King and based on Michael Bond’s books) to Peru for a swashbuckling adventure. It’s an origin story, of sorts, that finds Paddington and the Brown family searching for the bear’s beloved Aunt Lucy and stumbling upon his ancestral family along the way. Ben Whishaw is back as the marmalade-sandwich-loving Paddington, and Olivia Colman joins the cast as a suspicious Reverend Mother. But you’ll have to wait for the credits to witness the real return: sitting bold as brass and still in prison, Phoenix Buchanan, the archvillain actor from Paddington 2, played with high camp by Hugh Grant.

Last seen performing a Broadway-worthy version of Sondheim’s “Rain on the Roof” with his fellow jailbirds (“I didn’t need the West End after all,” he quips, “just a captive audience. What am I like? Guards … lock me up. Oh wait, you have!”), Buchanan is entertaining a visit from Paddington and his new band of fellow El Dorado bears. Buchanan smells a new plan for fame and adoration. “Do any of your friends care for the theater?” he asks the assembled clan, all named after London train stations. “As you know, I’m shortly to be released and I wonder … red cape, flaxen wig, lights: Phoenix Buchanan is Goldilocks! Now, who wants to be Daddy bear?”

The cameo is a blinder, but more than that, it’s a scene that remained a secret until the film premiered. Here’s how Wilson pulled it off.

Congrats for managing to keep it all under wraps. Did you have a code name for Hugh Grant on the script?
Ha, no, we weren’t quite clever enough to call him Blue Harvest or something.

Did you ever come close to letting it slip in any press interviews?
We had all sorts of questions like: “Will Hugh Grant be in it?” And I had to say, “Well, he’s in prison, as you know, so it’s tricky for him to get to Peru.” We managed to keep our mouths shut, but with difficulty.

How did you go about approaching Hugh, and what was his initial reaction to the idea?
It was in script development in 2022 when the idea first popped up. He was really up for it because he does love the Paddington films, and I think he felt this was a nice way to be involved without having to be in the main story. He’s kind of done that. He did appreciate the joke. In fact, he appreciated it so much he ended up helping with the dialogue for that scene.

What was Hugh’s input on the dialogue?
The line “Red cape, flaxen wig, lights: Phoenix Buchanan is Goldilocks” — that was all his idea. And Phoenix wanting to involve the bears in some sort of theatrical performance when he gets out — that was Hugh’s idea. He was really into it.

Was the scene ever going to go in the main film at any point?
No, it couldn’t go in the main body because it had to happen after Paddington found his tribe. Then, they return to London, and he takes the bears to visit Mr. Buchanan. In the canon of the Paddington trilogy, Phoenix Buchanan ends up in prison at the end of Paddington 2, so he’s technically still serving his sentence. It would have been a bit narratively tricky to have him affect another story on another continent. We thought it would be fun as part of Paddington’s tour of London with the bears that he would visit Phoenix. Paddington is nice and very forgiving.

I wondered how easily Paddington forgave Phoenix, after the whole framing incident.
I think we have to assume he has. He’s not gone there to goad him! The whole idea came from … wouldn’t it be lovely to produce a scenario whereby we have the reverse of the image from Paddington 2? Where Paddington introduces the Browns to all the prisoners. This time, he introduces all his bear friends. It’s a nice button for the end of it.

When you were filming it, was the scene ever longer? Were there any other jokes that didn’t make the cut?
He gave us a couple other versions, and we did try those. There was something along the lines of — he needed his “brandy and his hot-water bottle” from the prison guard, as he was so disturbed by all the bears and “all the beady eyes” looking at him. There were lots of bits that he came up with, with more dialogue and embellishment, but it was always going to be Paddington introducing his friends and Phoenix’s response to it. And the one that always worked best was him asking them if they wanted to be in a play called Goldilocks.

What was the most difficult aspect of filming the scene?
The main thing was that we had to get the timing right, because, obviously, Paddington and the bears weren’t really there. Hugh had to use his imagination and act like he was looking up at various bears and different heights. We had to give him different eyelines, so it was tricky to get it all working completely together.

Did he snap back into Phoenix?
Hugh was fantastic. He works very hard, and he’s very hard on himself. He likes to do another take if he feels like that one isn’t right. If you stay to the very end of the credits, he actually pops up again: “What fun, what fun, what a lot of lovely fur,” Phoenix says. That was Hugh too.

He’s wearing the same pink prison outfit in the scene, which was another nice callback to Paddington 2.
Yes, it’s pink because Paddington accidentally puts a red sock in the laundry. The prisoners behaved like they were unhappy with that, but what we thought was nice was that they’ve kept the pink outfits instead of getting new ones. Paddington has turned the prison into a much happier place.

What do you reckon Phoenix has been up to in prison?
He’s put on a few am-dram productions. He’s been there for ten years, and he’s put on an annual production — a Christmas production. He’s thoroughly thespian-ized the whole prison and they’re looking forward to him being released by now.

By my math, he’s probably served seven or eight years of his sentence for theft and identity fraud, so he’ll be out in 2027. Is that right?
Well, he’s got good behavior, and he says in the scene he’s “shortly to be released,” so he’s probably out by now. That’s what I reckon. I mean, he’s seen the error of his ways; he’s put on all these plays; and the parole board is probably thinking: Well, he can’t possibly commit anymore crimes. We shall see.

So, was he dipping his toe in for a bigger comeback for Paddington 4?
I don’t know. I really have no idea about that.

And how about you? Are there any conversations for Paddington 4 happening yet?
There are no plans at the moment.

Two years after filming, has Olivia Colman singing “Let’s Prepare for Paddington” left your brain? It’s such an earworm.
“Let’s Prepare for Paddington” was co-written by myself, Mark Burton, and Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy, so it was going round my head for such a long time. It had finally gone out of my head, but now you’ve put it back in. Apparently, the best way to get an earworm out of your head is to listen to Rush, flush it all out.