Shawn Mendes to Voice Beloved ‘Lyle, Lyle Crocodile’ for Movie Adaptation

Shawn Mendes is extending his talents to voice acting. On Thursday (Feb. 10), Deadline reported that the 23-year-old will voice Lyle Crocodile, the titular character of the beloved children’s book Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, which is set to receive the movie treatment from Sony Pictures.

The 1965 Bernard Waber book is about a crocodile named Lyle who lives a charmed life in New York City with the Primm family, assisting them with chores and being kind to their neighbors’ children. Everything is fine, until one day, a neighbor insists that Lyle should be placed 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,” the synopsis reads.

Javier Bardem (Dune, Being the Ricardos), Constance Wu (Hustlers, Crazy Rich Asians) and Winslow Fegley will also star alongside Mendes in the movie, which will be directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon. Will Davies will helm the film adaptation.

The “Treat You Better” singer is also hard at work on his music and is recording the follow-up to 2020’s Wonder. The hitmaker has been posting various clips of him in the studio with collaborators and earned a seal of approval from ex-girlfriend Camila Cabello when he posted a song teaser last month.

Mendes’ movie news comes shortly after he was forced to postpone his 2022 UK and European tour dates until 2023. “I’m so sorry I won’t be able to see you guys sooner,” he tweeted. “We unfortunately were forced to move the UK/EU tour dates to 2023 due to the pandemic.”