After two adventures in his adopted hometown of London, Paddington is heading, new passport in paw, for his native corner of South America in Paddington in Peru. The threequel takes a leaf out of Werner Herzog’s book by sending the loveable spectacled bear and the whole Brown family on a hair-raising caper through Amazonian jungles and Inca ruins.
Making the film, however, did not involve any madness in the jungle or the hauling of steamboats up hillsides a la Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: the Wrath of God. Instead, as Paddington producer Rosie Alison explains, the movie used a combination of real South American locations and filming spots much closer to Windsor Gardens in a moviemaking gambit as clever as Mrs Bird and as innovative as one of Jonathan Brown’s bedroom inventions. ‘When people see the film they’ll feel like they’ve been on an amazing holiday,’ says the producer. Read on to peak at the movie’s road (and river) map.
Paddington in Peru filming locations
1. Maras, Peru: Paddington’s hometown
After initial plans to take the whole cast out to Peru, Rosie Alison, director Dougal Wilson and the production team settled on a new approach. ‘We developed what we called his “postage stamp” technique,’ says Alison, ‘where we’d film the Browns within a little bit of forest in Hertfordshire and then put that within a bigger landscape that really exists in South America.’ The Peruvian town was a key backdrop for Paddington’s arrival in his homeland, while Olivia Colman’s singing Sound of Music moment is set in the picturesque hillsides nearby. ‘We were not going to make Paddington in Peru without Peru in it.’
2. Machu Picchu, Peru: In the footsteps of Tintin
Like one of the movie’s key inspirations, Hergé’s Tintin adventure ‘Prisoners of the Sun’, Inca ruins feature strongly in the story – and the most famous of the lot backdrops one helter-skelter sequence. ‘Our lost Inca ruin was filmed at Machu Picchu, although it’s not Machu Picchu in the film,’ says Alison. ‘Dougal spent two months recceing and went right into Amazonia and to Machu Picchu twice.’
3. Huayna Picchu, Peru: A nod to ‘Aguirre’
The other ‘Picchu’, Huayna Picchu, a soaring peak that rises above the Lost City of the Incas, is another Peruvian icon to feature in Paddington in Peru. Here, director Dougal Wilson and his team followed in Werner Herzog’s footsteps. ‘Aguirre, the Wrath of God was an inspiration,’ says Alison, ‘the opening shot of this troop of people climbing down Huayna Picchu is where we filmed as well. We have a little homage to the conquistador craziness.’
4. Prado, Colombia: the Indiana Jones-style rope bridge
Peru’s neighbour, Colombia, was also used widely for background photography. One key location there was Prado, a small town in the centre of the country. ‘That’s where you see Antonio chopping a rope bridge,’ says Alison.
5. Chilcot Crescent, London: Paddington and the Browns’ home
Primrose Hill’s picturebox crescent is back for the third film – albeit briefly. ‘We did one day there to do the exteriors and we did the interiors in the studio,’ says Alison. ‘I keep reading articles about the [residents] complaining. To be honest, I think plenty of them really like it, but some don’t and it’s always thus when you’re filming.’
6. Berrybushes Farm, Hertfordshire: The Peruvian bears’ home in the English Countryside
Paddington in Peru’s secret weapon is a patch of farmland just off the M25 northwest of London. ‘We had a sign as you arrived saying “Welcome to Peru”,’ says Alison of the location where the cast filmed the Peruvian scenes. ‘We built The Home For Retired Bears in inside a wood augmented with actual rainforest trees.’ Filming took place at Berrybushes in 2023. ‘The market town with the boat and the river was at Berrybushes as well, and the Inca ruin too.’
7. Black Park, Buckinghamshire: From Harry Potter to Peruvian rainforests
Another of the film’s UK locations, nearby Black Park, already has a stack of IMDb credits to its name. ‘It gets used for lots of films: Harry Potter, Star Wars,’ says Alison. ‘[We filmed] some more rainforest [scenes] there. It’s got some great trees where you’re not sure where you are.
8. The Shard, London: Mr Brown’s Office
London is more of a bystander in Paddington 3, but one city landmark does feature. ‘We have a couple of terrific scenes in Henry Brown’s office in the Shard,’ says Alison. Those interior scenes – and the life-sized doll’s house used in Paddington 1 and 2 – were filmed at Sky Studios Elstree.
Does Paddington Station feature in the new movie?
No. The station that gave Paddington his name features strongly in Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017) but sits this one.
Where were Paddington 1 and 2 filmed?
The first two movies were filmed mostly in west london, with Paddington Station, Marylebone Station, Maida Vale tube station, Portobello Road, Little Venice, Primrose Hill and the Natural History Museum all key locations, along with the Shard, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Reform Club in Pall Mall. Locations outside of London include Hatfield House, Somerset’s Shepton Mallet Prison and Dublin’s Kilmainham Gaol Museum.
A Paddington pop-up shop has just opened in a major London train station.
A Paddington statue trail has popped up across the UK: full list of locations.
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