J Balvin to Make Acting Debut in Crime Drama About a Fishing Village-Turned-Smuggling Hub

J Balvin will make his big screen debut as an Interpol investigator digging into a drug smuggling operation in the upcoming film, Little Lorraine, according to Variety. 

The film appears to be loosely based on real events in the Eighties, and will chronicle how a far-flung fishing and mining village in Nova Scotia became a hub for cocaine smuggling. Balvin’s Interpol investigator is drawn up north while investigating a Colombian drug ring suspected of moving product through the area.

Along with Balvin, the film will star Sean Astin and Stephen Amell. Little is known about Astin’s character, but Amell is set to play an out-of-work coal miner who lands a job on a lobster boat that’s part of the smuggling operation. Little Lorraine was directed by Andy Hines, and the cast also features Stephen McHattie, Auden Thornton, Matt Walsh, Rhys Darby, Josh Close, Steve Lund, and Sugar Lyn Beard.

If you’re looking for a little teaser for Little Lorraine, you can check out the song and music video the film is based on. Last year, the singer-songwriter Adam Baldwin released a track called “Lighthouse in Little Lorraine,” and Hines directed the music video. Both documented the chaos and crime that engulfed a small village once some of its citizens got involved in a drug smuggling operation.

Around the time of the song’s release, Baldwin discussed it on TikTok, describing the real town of Little Lorraine and its harbor as “the setting for a tale I penned that is based partially in fact, and greatly in fiction.” He added: “It’s a story of drug trafficking, betrayal, and murder.” 

As for Balvin, he just dropped his latest album, Rayo, which marks his first in three years, following 2021’s Jose. But the musician’s definitely been focused on acting, as well, teasing his upcoming debut — and speaking about what he hopes he can achieve in this field — in a recent interview with Variety. 

“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. “I love that side of myself. One of my biggest dreams is to play one of the most hated villains in history. I want to be like Negan in The Walking Dead. I want to be walking down the street and have someone yell ‘I hate you!’ at me because that’s how good of an actor I am.”