María Porcel (El País) writes about a new film written, directed, and co-produced by Puerto Rico’s René Pérez Joglar (Residente). Porcel reports, “In ‘Porto Rico’, Alejandro G. Iñárritu will be one of the executive producers, as will Edward Norton, who will also have a role in the plot, alongside Viggo Mortensen.” Sounds pretty exciting to me!
Bad Bunny and René Pérez, known artistically as Residente, have much in common. Musicians, yes, but above all, multidisciplinary artists with significant leaps and professional shifts in their careers; both are Puerto Rican, an identity they proudly embrace and reflect in their art. And now, their paths will cross once again, with their homeland at the heart of it all. The 31-year-old singer and recent Super Bowl halftime show performer will star in Pérez’s directorial debut, titled Porto Rico. Alongside him is another exceptional actor, Oscar winner Javier Bardem. EL PAÍS has learned this exclusively.
The project—which Pérez is directing, writing, and co-producing—is still in its early stages and boasts a powerful cast. In addition to Bardem (Las Palmas, 56), Edward Norton (Boston, 56), star of films like Fight Club and American History X, with four Oscar nominations, will also appear; he will participate in the film as both an actor and a producer. Viggo Mortensen (New York, 67), a three-time Oscar nominee who played Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and starred in A History of Violence and Eastern Promises, will also appear in the film. The film will be produced by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Mexico, 62), and the screenplay is co-written by Residente with New Yorker Alexander Dinelaris (New York, 57), who won the Oscar in 2015 for Birdman. Concert promoter Live Nation, through its film production division, Live Nation Studios, is also involved in financing the film.
Dinelaris and Pérez Joglar have written a feature film about Bad Bunny and Residente’s island home, a project long desired by the latter. Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, which means its citizens are not full citizens, but rather second-class citizens. For example, although they can participate in Democratic and Republican primaries, they are not allowed to vote in U.S. general elections; furthermore, they only have one representative in Congress, the Resident Commissioner, who has a voice but no vote in the legislature.
It seems clear that, from the film’s title, the island and its situation will have a significant presence. Few details have been released, but, according to its creators, it will be “an epic Caribbean western and, at the same time, a historical drama.” The production company states that “It combines a large-scale historical narrative with a visceral and lyrical approach, in a powerful story inspired by real events.” When [U.S. troops] arrived on the island, they called it Porto Rico (a name that lasted three decades) because they couldn’t pronounce the full name; this spelling of the title suggests that the history of the late 19th century will be very present in the film’s narrative.
“I’ve dreamed of making a film about my country since I was a kid,” explained Residente, 47, in a statement. “The true history of Puerto Rico has always been surrounded by controversy. This film is a reaffirmation of who we are, told with the intensity and honesty that our history deserves.” Bad Bunny and Residente have collaborated on several occasions. They have done so musically, but also as activists for their native island; for example, they participated in the summer protests of 2019 in San Juan, where they helped bring down the island’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, whom they even met at his residence. Now they will join forces on their first major film projects. [. . .]
Excerpts translated by Ivette Romero. For full article (in Spanish), see https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-02-18/bad-bunny-protagonizara-su-primera-pelicula-junto-a-javier-bardem-en-el-debut-en-la-direccion-de-rene-perez-residente.html
[Photo (Getty Images): From left to right, Bad Bunny, René Pérez Joglar (‘Residente’) and Javier Bardem.]
María Porcel (El País) writes about a new film written, directed, and co-produced by Puerto Rico’s René Pérez Joglar (Residente). Porcel reports, “In ‘Porto Rico’, Alejandro G. Iñárritu will be one of the executive producers, as will Edward Norton, who will also have a role in the plot, alongside Viggo Mortensen.” Sounds pretty exciting to
