Shawn Mendes will voice a beloved singing crocodile in the upcoming movie adaptation of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, Sony Pictures has confirmed.
The Canadian singer, 23, will bring the title character of Lyle to life as well as contribute to songs in the animated musical, which is based on the popular children’s book by Bernard Waber.
The film, which will be adapted by Will Davies and directed by Oscar-nominated duo Will Speck and Josh Gordon, is due to be released by Sony Pictures in November.
The plot of the film has not yet been revealed but the children’s book follows the life of Lyle the crocodile who lives with the Primm family in New York City and enjoys helping them out with chores.
Lyle is well-loved by everyone in the neighbourhood except for a cranky neighbour Mr Grumps who insists the crocodile belongs in a zoo, however, everything Lyle does to try and win him over seems to go wrong.
Constance Wu, Winslow Fegley, and Scoot McNairy will play the Primm family and Brett Gelman as Mr Grumps.
Being The Ricardos star Javier Bardem will also be joining the cast as the character Hector P Valenti.
The film’s executive producers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote original songs for the film alongside Mendes, Ari Afsar, Emily Gardner, Xu Hall, Mark Sonnenblick and Joriah Kwame.
Mendes has enjoyed a successful musical career, having produced four studio albums which have all topped the charts in America and Canada.
In 2019, he was nominated for international male solo artist at the Brit Awards and has received three Grammy Award nods, including song of the year for In My Blood and best pop vocal album for his self-titled record Shawn Mendes in 2019.
He also picked up a Grammy nomination in 2020 for best pop duo performance for his collaboration on the track Senorita with his ex-girlfriend Camila Cabello.
The couple announced in November that they had called a halt to their romantic relationship but would remain “best friends”.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is due to be released by Sony Pictures on November 18.