Paddington could certainly use a holiday once this press tour is over, so it’s a good job he’s been sorting his paperwork early…
If you’ve seen the first trailer for the eagerly-anticipated Paddington In Peru, you’ll have noticed our young ursine friend having a spot of bother in a photo booth. You’ll also have noticed that, ever the resilient type, this doesn’t seem to have stopped him from navigating the government’s online passport service – he’s now the proud owner of his very own little blue book.
As it turns out, Paddington’s passport might just be a little more official than you’d expect. On the most recent episode of The StudioCanal Podcast, producer Rosie Alison told our own Simon Brew about its very special feature:
“We reached out to the home office and asked if we could have permission to use the branding in the film,” she said. “They had a wonderful sense of humour, and they came back with Paddington’s own personalized passport.
“It has a special [page]: ‘This page is reserved for special observations’, and the official observation is: ‘bear'”.
If you’re looking to reproduce your own passport for a multi-million dollar family film franchise, The National Archives has produced a handy document on how to go about it. Turns out the cover is protected, not by fancy fraud laws, but good old fashioned copyright. Just a little treat for all you legal beagles out there.
Read more: Paddington In Peru trailer | A bear rides a llama on the hunt for El Dorado
They seem quite strict on what you can put in a fake passport, too. You can’t use the official Royal Arms, for example (the king owns the rights to that), and the personal details page has to use a different font. We’re not sure this is looking much like a passport at this rate.
Anyway, assuming Paddington gets through customs, his new film, Paddington In Peru, is arriving in cinemas on 8th November. Photo ID will not be required (we’re assuming, perhaps wrongly, the BBFC won’t give it a 15 rating).
