Nicky Jam dreams of having a star in Hollywood

Nicky Jam has received music awards such as Billboard and Latin Grammy, but nothing would make him happier as a star on the Walk of Fame.

It’s something he considers possible now, as he focuses on developing his early career in Hollywood, where he has already appeared in major productions such as “XXx: Return of Xander Cage” (“xXx: reactivated”) and “Bad Boys for Life” (“Bad Boys forever”), and where he debuts on Friday with his first animated role, Butch, in the new movie “Tom & Jerry” (” Tom and Jerry “).

“It’s my dream. More than an Oscar, more than a Grammy, more than anything, because my kids, my grandchildren, can walk the streets and see my name on the Hollywood floor,” the trap said Wednesday. reggaeton The Associated Press in an interview with Zoom in Miami. “It’s huge. It’s something I know I’ve worked on and I don’t see it that far!”

“Tom & Jerry” takes place in New York and combines real scenery and actors (including Chloë Grace Moretz and Michael Peña, plus a cameo from Ozuna) with animated characters. It is an adaptation of the classic Hanna-Barbera that reveals how the famous house cat and the mischievous mouse met and became rivals.

Butch is the leader of a gang of stray cats that make life more difficult for the main cat. And to interpret it, Jam was inspired by “the way Puerto Ricans speak when they are on the street.”

“Since I’m a Puerto Rican raised in the United States, it’s very easy for me to focus, that street slang in English, because he was the one I grew up with, ”said the musician with a Dominican mother and a Puerto Rican father, who was born outside Boston but moved to Puerto Rico as a child.

“I also had the director (Tim Story) in front of me and he asked me:” How would you do it? “So I threw myself, ‘Are you laughing at me? You know what I do to cats that laugh at me ‘(Do you laugh at me? You know what I do to cats that laugh at me), “he added gracefully, making his character’s hoarse voice. I imagined myself in that situation “.

What would Butch sound like to play Nicky Jam songs?

“It simply came to our notice then. I hope they get Butch to sing soon, that would be great. But, as in this case, he was the bad guy, the bad guys don’t sing too much, “laughed the performer of hits such as” The Lover, “” Until Dawn, “and” El perdón. ” I do the next animation ”.

Jam, who is fully bilingual, also voiced Butch for the Spanish version of the film. This, he said, was what presented him with the greatest challenge.

“In English it was very easy, because the animations were not done yet, I interpreted the voices as they came out,” he explained. “But in Spanish I had to see the animations and calculate the time (to fit exactly). It took me almost five hours to do it! But it was cool. It turned out very well and I liked it very much “.

As the father of four children, he was thrilled to finally be able to show them the film, but the proudest of his family was undoubtedly his father, a “super fan” of “Tom & Jerry,” who she called him to congratulate him more warmly than ever.

“I said, ‘Daddy, I made movies with Vin Diesel, Will Smith! And he says, “No, Daddy, none of those people are bigger than Tom and Jerry.” So, I take a sentimental value to the project, because you always want to make your father happy and for your father to be proud of something and that makes me very happy ”.

He is now preparing to film “American Sole” about the culture and secondary business of tennis, where young people get rich by selling exclusive shoes for thousands of dollars online. “I’m one of the toughest tennis collectors,” he said of his role. The film, produced by Kevin Hart, will also feature a Bad Bunny show.