Kidman shines at rainy premiere

Oscar-winning beauty Nicole Kidman was among the stars to brave the pouring rain at the premiere of Paddington the movie.

The Australian beauty, accompanied by her husband Keith Urban who sheltered her blonde girls with a Paddington umbrella, joined co-stars including Hugh Bonneville, Ben Whishaw, Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent on the red carpet in London’s Leicester Square.

Whishaw voices a CGI incarnation of the bear from darkest Peru created by Michael Bond in the live-action film.

Downton Abbey’s Bonneville and Blue Jasmine’s Sally Hawkins star as Mr and Mrs Brown, the family who take in Paddington, while Kidman plays the film’s villain, Millicent, a sinister taxidermist with her eye on the beloved bear.

Kidman said: “Well obviously, I was the kid that loved the wicked witch in The Wizard Of Oz, so of course I grew up to be the girl who wants to play the villain in a movie. I’m always happy to play the bad girl.

“I just get to have fun, and it’s obviously all done with a smile.”

She added: “I know all about Paddington. I had a teddy bear but I also had a Paddington Bear.

“I remember being about six or seven and just hoping I would find my own little Paddington stranded on the street.”

The movie has been given a parental guidance (PG) certificate by the British Board of Film Classification for containing “dangerous behaviour, mild threat, innuendo, infrequent mild bad language”. The innuendo refers to a scene where Downton Abbey star Bonneville dresses up as a woman.

Walters, 64, who plays The Brown’s housekeeper Mrs Bird opted for “duffle coat chic” on the red carpet in homage to the famous bear.

Whishaw replaced Colin Firth as the voice of Paddington after The King’s Speech star quit, saying he was having trouble finding the voice of the marmalade-loving bear.

Paddington will open in cinemas on Friday.