Paddington Bear has found a new pair of writers to come up with his next big screen adventure and looks to have secured a director as well.
Variety can exclusively confirm that Armando Iannucci, the Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated Scotsman best known for creating hit satirical shows “Veep” and “The Thick of It,” is set to turn his pen to London’s most beloved four-pawed Peruvian expat and will write the upcoming fourth film in Studiocanal‘s hit “Paddington” franchise. Iannucci will be joined on screenplay duties by his long-standing and fellow Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated co-writer Simon Blackwell, who served as a key writer on both “Veep” and “The Thick of It.”
Meanwhile, Variety hears that Dougal Wilson, the award-winning commercials and music videos director who made his feature debut with the third film, “Paddington in Peru,” is in talks to return.
“Paddington 4,” follows 2014’s “Paddington,” 2017’s “Paddington 2” and 2024’s “Paddington in Peru,” and a combined global box office in excess of $800 million. Paul King directed the first two instalments (he wrote the first and co-wrote the second with Simon Farnaby), with Wilson taking over directing duties on the third (which was written by Mark Burton, Jon Foster and James Lamont).
Rosie Alison (“Paddington,” “Paddington 2,” “Paddington in Peru”), who first came up with the idea to give Michael Bond’s red-hatted bear the live-action-meets-VFX big screen treatment some 20 years ago, continues as producer for Heyday Films.
The fourth Paddington movie was only officially announced earlier this year. At CinemaCon, Studiocanal CEO and Canal+ Chief Content Officer Anna Marsh revealed that the film was in development, but shared little else other than that “world-renowned comedy writers” had been hired.
Iannucci has earned his stripes many times over as a comedy writer, having also helped create the iconic TV character Alan Partridge, written for “The Day Today” and, more recently, created HBO’s “Avenue 5,” while on film he co-wrote and directed “In the Loop” (which was Oscar nominated for best adapted screenplay in 2010) and “The Death of Stalin.” Blackwell, meanwhile, is also known for creating the Brit TV dark comedy show “Breeders” and sitcom “Back,” helped co-write “In the Loop” and also co-wrote Iannucci’s last feature film, “The Personal History of David Copperfield” (which starred the voice of Paddington, Ben Whishaw).
But taking on Paddington Bear is several giant leaps from Charles Dickens adaptations, TV sitcoms or political satire, and will be no marmalade sandwich-laden picnic.
Perfectly balancing the duffel coat-wearing ursine’s impeccably well-mannered kindness with his endearingly clumsy tendency to land himself in trouble helped elevate the critically-adored “Paddington 2” to the status of cinematic masterpiece (it was for a period the highest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes).
Speaking to Variety around the release of “Paddington in Peru,” producer Alison said director Wilson was chosen partly because he was “Paddingtonian” and embodied all the positive values of the bear. No doubt in Iannucci and Blackwell she’s found the same qualities. If not, hard stares all round.
