Fresh off his successful Super Bowl half-time show, Bad Bunny takes on his first starring role. The rapper and sometime actor stars in Puerto Rico, a love letter to his home in Puerto Rico directed by legendary rapper Rene “Resident” Perez Zogler.
As Deadline announced, the film has a starry cast including Viggo Mortensen, Javier Bardem and Edward Norton, as well as executive producer Alejandro G. Iñárritu, director of Birdman and The Revenant.
The project has been in the works since 2023, when it was announced as a historical drama based on the life of Jose Maldonado Roman, a late 19th and early 20th century revolutionary. is known as White Eagle (White Eagle), Maldonado fought against the Spanish colonists on the Roman island and led rebellions against the authorities.
In 1897, Maldonado was among about 300 rebels who aimed to attack the barracks of the Spanish Civil Guard, taking part in the Roman Yauco Rebellion. This marked the first time the modern Puerto Rican flag was flown publicly on the island. A notorious bandit, he was jailed several times between 1898 and 1909 for his political activities, although his skill at escaping prison led him to be called a “magician”.
Upon the film’s initial announcement in 2023, a press release promised that the production would “combine historical scope with a visceral, lyrical approach and a gripping narrative inspired by true events”.
“I’ve dreamed of making a film about my country since I was little. The real history of Puerto Rico has always been surrounded by controversy,” the resident told Deadline. “This film tells who we are — with the intensity and honesty our history deserves.”
Bad Bunny has appeared in several supporting roles over the past decade, but Puerto Rico marks his biggest film project to date. In 2022, he played a gang leader who faces Brad Pitt in a bloody knife fight in the action thriller Bullet Train. Last year, he appeared in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing as (another) gang leader who threatens to shoot Austin Butler.
“This film is in the tradition of films we love so deeply, from The Godfather to Gangs of New York, that thrill us with visceral drama and iconic characters and eras while confronting the shadowy story beneath the American narrative of idealism,” Norton said. “Everyone knows what a poet Rene is of language and rhythm. Now they’re going to see what a visual visionary he is. And bringing him and Bad Bunny together will be like a fire to find a stick of dynamite waiting to tell the true story of Puerto Rico’s origins.”
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show on February 8 drew 128.2 million viewers and set a record for social media views, with more than 4 billion people watching clips of the show on social media. In a review for the Guardian, Stephanie Fernández called the show “a dizzying reminder of the many pantheons of Puerto Rican legends … Benito is triumphant and never lets history forget.”
