CASTING DOUBT

IT DOESN’T ALWAYS TAKE A TRAGEDY TO REPLACE A VOICE ACTOR

PADDINGTON

Colin Firth was Paddington originally but, “It slowly just became clear that Paddington does not have the voice of a very handsome older man,” said director Paul King. It was a “sad realisation that he simply doesn’t have my voice,” said Firth. Ben Whishaw, conversely, fitted like a snug duffle coat.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

Nigel Davenport was the first to voice murderous computer HAL 9000. However, after a few weeks the ever-exacting Stanley Kubrick found his English accent too distracting and severed Davenport’s proverbial oxygen hose. Canadian actor Douglas Rain was flown to Borehamwood for post-production.

DESPICABLE ME 2

Dastardly restaurateur Eduardo Pérez belonged to Al Pacino, but he quit five weeks before release, with co-director Chris Renaud blaming “creative differences”: Pacino and the team didn’t “see eye to eye”. Benjamin Bratt was parachuted in, recording the entire part in just five days — an animation angel if ever there was one.

HER

Samantha Morton was the voice of AI virtual assistant Samantha in Spike Jonze’s Her, recording on set before Jonze changed his mind during editing. “We realised that what Samantha and I had done together wasn’t what the character needed,” explained Jonze later. Scarlett Johansson would fulfil Jonze’s vision.

BRAVE

Reese Witherspoon, original voice of Brave’s Scottish princess, couldn’t quite master Merida’s Highland tones. Glasgow’s Kelly Macdonald had no such problems. “I tried to do a Scottish accent once. It was bad,” Witherspoon admitted in 2017. “I had to quit the movie. It’s not my finest moment.”