Shawn Mendes is set to join the cast of Sony’s live-action hybrid musical film based on the children’s book “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile.” The “Señorita” singer will voice the film’s title reptile, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
Mendes will also contribute original songs for the film, and he’ll work with “La La Land” songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul on the original music, as well as Ari Afsar, Emily Gardner Xu Hall, Mark Sonnenblick and Joriah Kwamé.
“Lyle, Lyle Crocodile” also stars Javier Bardem, Constance Wu, Winslow Fegley, Scoot McNairy and Brett Gelman as the film’s live-action cast. Will Speck and Josh Gordon are directing the film.
Above you can see a first look image of Mendes as Lyle in the flesh…er, scales.
“Lyle, Lyle Crocodile” is a 1965 book by Bernard Waber that follows Lyle, a crocodile living in a Victorian brownstone with the Primm family, who found him in their bathtub when they moved in. Though he’s happy helping them with chores, things change when one neighbor decides Lyle belongs in the zoo.
Specific plot details for the film are being kept under wraps. Will Davies (“How to Train Your Dragon”) wrote the script based on Waber’s book.
Speck & Gordon are producing alongside Hutch Parker. Kevin K. Vafi and Dan Wilson are executive producing. Brittany Morrissey is overseeing the project for Sony, which has dated “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile” for release on Nov. 18, 2022.
Mendes’ role will be his first leading studio film role. He’s a Grammy-nominated, multiplatinum singer and songwriter whose fourth studio album, “Wonder,” debuted as No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart, marking Mendes’ fourth straight No. 1 album.
Mendes is repped by Andrew Gertler (AG Artists) for management, CAA and The Lede Company
Deadline first reported the news.