Xian Lim Proud To Be Chosen By British Producer To Be The Voice Of Paddington Bear

XIAN LIM FEELS so proud and honored to be tapped to be the voice of United Kingdom’s most loved iconic bear, Paddington, first introduced in a series of books written by Michael Bond in 1958. Paddington comes from the dark jungles of Peru where an explorer, Montgomery Clyde, discovers him and his family of intelligent bears with a love for marmalade. When their home in Peru is destroyed by an earthquake, Paddington goes to London where he is adopted by the Brown family: Hugh Bonneville as dad Henry Brown, Sally Hawkins as mom Mary Brown, Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin as kids Judy and Samuel. The villain is a sadistic museum taxidermist, Millicent, played by Nicole Kidman, who wants to capture Paddington and make him a stuffed animal at National History Museum. The film is produced by David Heyman, who did the hit Harry Potter series. In the original movie, Paddington is voiced by British actor Ben Whishaw (best known for playing Q in the last James Bond flick, “Skyfall”), but for its release abroad, the producer required the distributors to hire a local talent to be the voice of the young bear. Several actors were considered but Heyman personally approved of Xian Lim to be Paddington in the film’s Philippine release. So how did Xian prepare for the job?

“There’s not much preparation,” he says at the presscon held by Star Magic for him. “I was nervous at first as this is the first time I’m voicing an animated character and I was preparing to do it with a British accent. My voice coach said we can try different variations and they chose the one that sounds most natural for me. I was thinking we will work on the dubbing for about a week, but even the supervisor was so surprised dahil para raw nakapag-dub na ako ng maraming beses before. The most challenging for me were the British terms na inulit-ulit ko talaga for me to sound natural as I say them. I was able to finish the whole film in two days. Then when they sent it abroad, the producer thought the original copy was sent to him. Parang hindi raw nabago, so that’s a compliment for me.”

“Paddington” opens in local theatres on February 11 and Xian is hoping that some of the British stars in the movie will be invited over to the premiere night. “Para naman makasama ko sila,” he says.