STACK #218 December 2022

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CINEMA FEATURE

SHAWN SINGS For Shawn Mendes, bringing the crocodile to vocal life was easy, describing the loveable croc as a character driven by love. “He just wants to have a family, a home, and feel connected to people, and love is the reason I sing, too. I sing when I feel comfortable, when I feel accepted. I relate to him a lot,” says Mendes. “Although hearing your own voice come out of an animated crocodile can be a bit of an out of-body experience,” he laughs.

became the biggest Shawn fan ever after he started to listen to his entire library. His kids shamed him about who Shawn was, and so by the time they met, they were so versed in each other. Shawn was really excited to meet Javier, but Javier was like a super fan out of nowhere!” An old-fashioned musical, the story revolves around the Primm family, who move to New York where their young son, Josh, struggles to adapt to his new school and new friends. But everything changes when Josh discovers Lyle – a singing crocodile who loves baths, caviar and

STACK chats with the directors of the snappy new musical comedy, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile . Words Gill Pringle

great music – living in the attic of their new home. The two become fast friends, but when Lyle’s existence is threatened by evil neighbour Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman), the Primms must band together with Lyle’s owner, Hector, to show the world that family can come from the most unexpected places – and there’s nothing wrong with a big singing crocodile with an even bigger personality. “Javier actually started his career in musicals and also was a comedian early on, so he's able to do all these moves and these flavours,

O ne of the more surreal moments in Javier Bardem’s Oscar winning career must surely be performing a show tune with an animated green crocodile. So much so, it took six meetings before he agreed to dip his toes into this sweet, snappy comedy, starring pop singer Shawn Mendes as the voice behind the eponymous singing croc. Based on the best-selling book series by Bernard Waber, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile stars

Bardem as down-on-his-luck showman Hector P. Valenti, alongside Constance Wu and Scoot McNairy as Mr. and Mrs. Primm, and Winslow Fegley as their son. “I think Javier was concerned that he didn't want to have to be the funniest thing in every

but he hadn't done those in a long time. And I think he was interested in showing the world this other side of himself. He's a family person. He's very warm, very funny, and also very musical,” says co-director Josh Gordon. And there’s no better way to make a musical distinctive than to call upon the songwriting talents of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Oscar, Tony and Grammy Award-winning songwriters behind La La Land and The Greatest Showman . “They're doing something that really hasn't been in the movies for a while, which is to write towering new works for the movies of musical theatre, and bringing music into movies in a unique, specific way,” says Speck.

scene,” says Will Speck, who co-directed this delicious confection with Josh Gordon. “We kept saying, ‘Actually, you're the centre of the movie, and the movie in many ways revolves around your heft’. And he is funny in the movie, but he's not an overtly comedic character. “That was the biggest challenge, but then Javier asked, ‘Who is Javier Bardem as Hector P. Valenti

Shawn Mendes?’ So we explained who he was, and he called home to Penelope [Cruz] and the kids and they went crazy because they love Shawn so much. “And then Javier

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is in cinemas from December 26

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10 DECEMBER 2022