These are the kind of things that keep me up at night:  Will Sherlock Season 4 ever start filming? How many Philip Treacy fascinators does The Duchess of Cambridge  actually own? What kind of Doctor will Peter Capaldi make? But…the main thing that occupies my thoughts these days: What will Colin Firth sound like as Paddington Bear in the film adaptation of Michael Bond’s classic children’s book?

Paddington Bear looking a bit taller and perhaps more grown up than in previous incarnations.

Nobody loves Colin Firth more than I do…he is, after all, my ‘alternate universe’ husband….and he’s given an Oscar worthy performance in this year’s The Railway Man, but I can’t yet picture (or hear) him as Paddington the bear. I’ve always imagined Paddington as having a more cuddly voice (not that Firth isn’t cuddly) as opposed to the perfect English-gentlemenly (Okay…and sexy) voice possessed by Firth. I’ve never watched any of the animated incarnations of Paddington Bear over the years but the Winnie the Pooh lover in me hears Paddington with a sort of Sterling Holloway-esque voice.

Unfortunately the film’s first trailer puts the “T” in teaser and offers no hint as to what the bear from darkest Peru is going to sound like:

And here is the LATEST trailer, just released by The Weinstein Company, which features Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville and while it still does not reveal Paddington’s voice it does reveal a film that will be enjoyable for the whole family. I can already tell…we are going to LOVE this movie! If the two-minute trailer is laugh out loud funny…imagine how hysterical the whole film is going to be.

My favorite part is Paddington getting stuck at the tube station turn-stile because…that has happened to everyone!

Paddington follows the story of a little bear that stowed away on a ship and finds himself arrived at  Paddington Station in London where he was found by Mr. and Mrs. Brown. He was sitting on a small suitcase near the lost property office wearing nothing but an old bush hat and a label round his neck with the words “Please Look After This Bear. Thank You.”

Unable to resist such a simple request, Mr. and Mrs. Brown took Paddington home to live with them at 32 Windsor Gardens in London, along with their two children, Jonathan and Judy and their housekeeper, Mrs. Bird. And thus begins the adventures of the marmalade loving Peruvian bear!

This adorable newly released photo of the lost little bear shows just enough mischief in those big brown eyes to keep us enticed and just knowing that Colin Firth is behind those squeezable features is enough for me…for now.

In search of his favourite marmalade sandwich!

The film, directed by Paul King, will also star an Anglophile-lovers dream cast: Sally Hawkins, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters, Nicole Kidman and the new Doctor Who himself…Peter Capaldi….and is due out Christmas 2014! Thank you Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company for continuing to put our favorite British artists in your films!

(Photos: Studio Canal  Additional source: http://www.paddington.com)

Lady Anglophile

(Paddington Bear in hand and ready for the premiere!)