Pop superstar J Balvin will make his film debut in the upcoming drug drama “Little Lorraine,” Variety revealed Friday.
Balvin will appear alongside “Lord of the Rings” star Sean Astin and Stephen Amell in the Andy Hines-directed flick, which is based on true events during the notorious 1980s cocaine trade at a remote fishing and mining town that turned into a hub for trafficking, the outlet revealed. Filming was recently completed in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and Ontario.
The “Mi Gente” singer plays an Interpol agent investigating a suspected Colombian cartel entering the U.S. through Cape Breton, Variety noted. Amell plays an out-of-work coal miner who takes a fishery job on a boat involved with the narcotics trade, setting up what sounds like a pretty thrilling plot.
Balvin hinted at the project while promoting his “Rayo” album in mid-August.
“I’ve started acting — like real acting, not just cameos — and I just wrapped filming for a movie I’m in that comes out next year,” he said during the conversation, adding that he loves this side of his work and himself.
Hines, who is a Grammy nominee for works with Kanye West, Luke Combs, and many others, has worked with Balvin for years.
He said the two men “have an incredible rapport in front of and behind the camera,” Variety added. “Having him as a lead in my feature is a dream come true, and I can’t wait for audiences to see him bring this character to life.”
The movie’s title appears to come from an actual town in Canada, founded in 1714 and home to roughly 60 people, according to Fandom. (RELATED: ‘Yellowstone’ Star Kelly Reilly Spills Major Spoilers On Season 5 Part 2)
Aside from being a hub for the cocaine trade, Little Lorraine is known for a horrifying shipwreck in which some 500 Irish immigrants lost their lives April 22, 1816. Another wreck in 1834 claimed the lives of a further 248 people, also Irish immigrants.