Carlo Mendez is taking on a Legend(ary) role…

The 44-year-old Cuban American actor is set to take over Alvaro Orlando’s role in the indie The Legend of Jack and Diane, following Orlando’s departure due to a scheduling conflict.

Mendez, whose credits include Parks and Recreation and 90210,  joins a cast led by Tom Sizemore, which also includes Robert LaSardo, David Timlinson and newcomer Lydia Zelmac, with production currently underway in and around the Los Angeles area.

Directed by Bruce Bellochi, the film is a revenge thriller, which takes its name from John Mellencamp’s classic song “Jack & Diane.” It centers, of course, on Jack (Tomlinson) and Diane (Zelmac), who decide to leave Indiana for a new life in Los Angeles. When the pair discover secrets about the death of Diane’s mother, their worst fears are confirmed, and they are forced to run. On the way to Los Angeles to confront evil, they create a hit list to exact revenge on everyone involved.

Mendez will play Detective Stanley Montana, the son of LaSardo’s reputed drug lord Cesar. Never accepted by his father, Montana has since fallen from his family’s good graces after choosing to become a cop.

Bellochi, Zelmac and Rick Geller scripted the project, which was originally set up as an episodic series for HBO but lost its footing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Bellochi and Geller reworking it as a feature. Bellochi and Geller are exec producing it with Jackie Kallen.

The younger brother of actress Eva Mendes, Mendez has garnered 64 screen credits over the course of his career, finding most within the last 15 years. He’s primarily known for his work in television, on series like NBC’s Parks and Recreation and The CW’s 90210.