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Bad Bunny makes his acting debut alongside Javier Bardem
After making a strong impression at the Super Bowl 2026 halftime show with a cinematic and political performance paying tribute to his Puerto Rican roots, Bad Bunny is already working on a new project. The 31-year-old artist has landed his first major leading role in a feature film dedicated to the history of Puerto Rico.
By Ambra Flora.
Un premier grand rôle engagé pour Bad Bunny
Just weeks after his electrifying show at the Super Bowl, the Puerto Rican rapper, singer, producer, actor, and wrestler will once again celebrate his Latin heritage. But, this time, Bad Bunny will be on the silver screen as the lead character in a film titled Porto Rico. The project will also mark the directorial debut of fellow Puerto Rican rapper René Pérez Joglar, better known as Residente. The latter will direct and co-write the film with Alexander Dinelaris, the screenwriter and producer behind Birdman and The Revenant.
“I have dreamed of making a film about my country since I was a child. Puerto Rico’s true history has always been surrounded by controversy,” the director told Deadline about his upcoming project. The media described the feature as an “epic Caribbean western and historical drama“.
Javier Bardem and Edward Norton in the cast
Produced by multi-Oscar-winning filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the feature film will chronicle the fight of Puerto Rican revolutionary José Maldonado Román against Spanish colonialism at the end of the 19th century, on an island that is now a US territory. Leading a gang of ex-convicts, he will fight to defend his island in search of identity. Bad Bunny will star alongside Spanish actor Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), Edward Norton (Fight Club), and Viggo Mortensen (Green Book). Each one of their roles is said to be connected to the actors’ respective origin countries.
Multiple roles on the big screen
This new role marks another milestone in Bad Bunny’s film career. The 31-year-old singer has always been vocal about his passion for cinema. Whether it was through his grand, musical-like performance at the Super Bowl 2026 or with the release of his album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOTos in 2025, accompanied by a short film co-directed with Arí Maniel Cruz. The film set the tone for the record and paid tribute to Puerto Rico, his family memories and childhood.
As an actor, Bad Bunny made notable appearances, in the golf comedy Happy Gilmore 2 (2025), directed by Kyle Nuwacheck and starring Adam Sandler, and in Caught in the Trap (2025) by Darren Aronofsky, in which he played a Puerto Rican gangster opposite Austin Butler and Zoë Kravitz.
A feature with Brad Pitt
The artist had previously starred alongside Brad Pitt in Bullet Train (2022), in which he plays “The Wolf,” a Mexican assassin and gang leader. Bad Bunny has also taken on smaller roles, notably in Cassandro (2023), a biopic about the openly gay Mexican wrestler Cassandro el Exótico, portrayed by Gael García Bernal (Mozart in the Jungle), with whom he shares an on-screen kiss. Before that, one could also spot him in Fast & Furious 9 (2021) and in American Sole (2021).
The film Porto Rico by Residente does not have a release date yet.
