Paddington 2 without the visual effects (or the bear) is very unnerving

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And of course, a great part of that success has to be down to the cute depiction of Paddington himself, a testament to the work of both voice actor Ben Whishaw and the visual effects artists bringing the character to life.

But what if all that work was removed? What if we saw the “before” picture to Paddington’s “after”? What, in other words, did it actually look like on set before Paddington Brown was digitally added to the footage?

Well, thanks to this new behind-the-scenes video our question has finally been answered, with the resounding reply of “it’s pretty weird”. Paddington’s interactions with the world around him were achieved by crew members poking Brendan Gleeson with sticks, small actors standing in and the film’s major stars wrestling with thin air, all with the promise that one day a little fuzzy bear would be added in to make them look less ridiculous.

Honestly, it’s fascinating, and a good reminder of exactly how much work the visual effects supervisors had to go through. Marmalade sandwiches all round.

Paddington 2 will be released on DVD on the 12^th March