While Shawn Mendes is a pop star first and foremost, he has acted here and there, and now he has another credit to add to his IMDb page: Deadline reports that Mendes has been tapped to star as the titular character in Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, an animated film adaptation of Bernard Waber’s 1965 children’s book, which itself is a sequel to 1962’s The House On East 88th Street. Mendes’ castmates include Javier Bardem, Constance Wu, and Winslow Fegley.
This is Mendes’ first starring film role, as his acting credits before this are sparse. He voiced Young Jake in the 2013 English dub of Underdogs (originally titled Metegol) and he appeared on an episode of The 100 in 2016.
A publisher’s statement on the book reads, “Lyle the crocodile lives in a house on East 88th Street in New York City. Lyle enjoys helping the Primm family with everyday chores, and playing with the neighborhood kids. He’s the happiest crocodile any home ever had… until one neighbor insists that Lyle belongs in a zoo! Mr. Grumps and his cat, Loretta, don’t like crocodiles, and everything Lyle does to win them over seems to go wrong. It will take all of Lyle’s charm — and courage — to reveal the hero, and friend, behind the big, crocodile smile.”