‘Fleabag’s Brett Gelman Joins Sony’s ‘Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile’ Adaptation

Justin Kroll
·2 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Brett Gelman has joined the ensemble cast of Will Speck & Josh Gordon’s Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile for Sony Pictures. Javier Bardem, Constance Wu and Winslow Fegley also are on board. Speck & Gordon will direct, with the script being adapted by Will Davies. The film is based on the bestselling children’s book by Bernard Waber.

Published in 1965, the venerable children’s tale centers on the title reptile who 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.

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Speck & Gordon are producing alongside Hutch Parker. Dan Wilson is executive producing for Hutch Parker Entertainment and Kevin K. Vafi is executive producing for Speck & Gordon. Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, the Oscar-winning songwriting team behind the music of La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen, are writing original songs for the pic and also executive producing. Ari Afsar, Emily Gardner Xu Hall and Mark Sonnenblick writing alongside Pasek and Paul. Brittany Morrissey is overseeing the project for the studio.

The film will bow on November 18, 2022.

Best known for his role as the scene-stealing Martin in the Emmy-winning Fleabag, Gelman most recently appeared in Paramount’s spy thriller Without Remorse, starring Michael B. Jordan. He also was seen recently on the third season of David E. Kelley’s Audience Network show Mr. Mercedes, opposite Brendan Gleeson and Holland Taylor.

He also has appeared on HBO’s Camping and Netflix’s Stranger Things and Love. He is repped by ICM Partners, Management 360 and Schreck Rose.

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