When Rihanna and A$AP Rocky first stepped in front of a camera together for Fenty Beauty’s noir-inspired short film Born to Steal: Yours, Mine, Ours in early 2024, the result was a two-minute black-and-white confection – Old Hollywood glamour repurposed as a vehicle for a lip balm. It was playful, stylish, and unmistakably them. But what the couple have since revealed about their broader cinematic ambitions suggests that short-form promotional work is merely the prologue. In the eighteen months since, Rocky has earned critical praise opposite Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, Rihanna has taken on a starring voice role in a major animated feature, and Rocky has told Variety he intends to direct a feature film starring both of them. The couple who have already conquered music, fashion, and beauty are now coming for the screen – and they appear in no particular hurry.
Born to Steal: Where the Film Partnership Began
The Fenty Beauty short film, released on 28 February 2024 across the brand’s YouTube channels, was conceived as a product launch vehicle for the Lux Balm Ultra-Hydrating Cherry Lip Balm, retailing at $16. But its ambition exceeded the brief. Directed in the style of a 1940s noir thriller, the two-minute piece cast Rihanna as a “blazer bandit” – a femme fatale who steals A$AP Rocky’s clothes, pancakes, and ultimately his lip balm. A narrator, voiced by Rocky himself, set the tone: “She was a classy dame, but she had odd ways of showing her affection.”
The production drew on a shared love of cinema that the couple have spoken about repeatedly. As Rocky later told W Magazine, “We have so many of the same interests. We were addicted to watching documentaries, like the Bob Marley one. Watching films together is so fun. We must’ve watched El Cantante 15 times.” That obsession with film – the textures, the moods, the storytelling – has always simmered beneath the surface of their public personas. Born to Steal was the first time it surfaced on screen in a sustained way. It arrived just weeks after the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where the indie circuit continued to champion exactly the kind of auteur-driven work the couple now aspire to make.
The teaser, posted to Rihanna’s Instagram on 27 February, accumulated over a million likes within hours. Some fans hoped it signalled new music; instead, it confirmed something subtler. Rihanna and Rocky were developing a shared visual language, one that extended beyond music videos and red-carpet appearances into something closer to auteur-driven storytelling.
A$AP Rocky and Spike Lee: Highest 2 Lowest
If Born to Steal was the couple’s calling card, A$AP Rocky’s performance in Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest – which premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2025 and was released in select theatres on 22 August via A24, before streaming on Apple TV+ from 5 September – was the proof of concept. Rocky plays Yung Felon, an aspiring rapper who orchestrates a ransom plot against a music mogul portrayed by Denzel Washington. The role required Rocky to hold his own against one of the most decorated actors in American cinema, and the critical consensus was that he did.
The Los Angeles Times described Rocky as “an excellent” presence, noting that “Rocky capably steps up to Washington’s loose but intense actorly flow.” Roger Ebert’s website praised the “electrifying last act” featuring a rap battle between the two, calling it “maybe the best, most controlled sequence of Lee’s career.” Vulture’s Alison Willmore wrote that Rocky’s performance “really makes the case that movie stardom is his if he wants it,” observing that the actor “manages to jolt fresh energy” out of Washington in scenes that are “part rap battle, part therapy session.”
For Rocky, the experience was personally transformative. Speaking to Variety, he described working with Lee and Washington as “like a fking dream come true,” adding: “Trust me, it was difficult to not fan the fk out every millisecond of the fking duration. It was crazy – it’s fking Denzel, man.” He also articulated a philosophy of creative integrity that has guided his transition from rapper to actor: “Nah, I was born for this. I’m not gonna waste nobody’s time.” He added: “When you cheat yourself in life, you never win in the end.”
The film marked Rocky’s most substantial screen role to date, following smaller parts in the 2018 indie Monster and the 2025 Sundance selection If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. It also arrived at a critical juncture in his career – he had been acquitted of assault charges in February 2025, and Highest 2 Lowest offered a public reinvention. The BFI London Film Festival has long served as a barometer for exactly this kind of career-crossing performance, and Rocky’s work here places him firmly in the conversation of musicians successfully transitioning to serious screen work.
Rocky Wants to Direct a Film with Rihanna
The most significant revelation from Rocky’s Variety interview, however, was not about his acting – it was about his intentions as a filmmaker. When asked whether he would like to act alongside Rihanna in a future project, his response was unequivocal: “Hell, yeah.” He cited their previous on-screen collaborations – her appearance in his 2022 D.M.B. music video and his 2013 Fashion Killa clip – as evidence of their chemistry.
Crucially, Rocky indicated he would “more than likely” direct whatever film they eventually make together. He offered no details on genre or plot, but the ambition itself is notable. Rocky has been building toward a directorial role for years through his creative agency AWGE, which handles creative direction for other artists, fashion collections, and now his own Don’t Be Dumb album campaign. The agency’s New York debut in February 2026 – staged in the landmarked former Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank – demonstrated a cinematic sensibility in its runway presentation, with models using baby carriers and strollers as props, a nod to the couple’s three children.
Rihanna, for her part, has expressed a parallel interest in expanding her screen work. At the 2023 CinemaCon, she announced her role voicing Smurfette in Paramount’s animated Smurfs film, describing it as “a fun journey” that allowed her to “just imagine” and “show up in my pyjamas in my third trimester.” Director Chris Miller told The Hollywood Reporter that Rihanna had actively pursued the role: “Rihanna wanted to play Smurfette in the Smurfs movie, she was pursuing it and wanting it.” The film, released on 18 July 2025, also saw Rihanna serve as a producer and record original songs – a multidisciplinary involvement that mirrors her approach to every venture she undertakes.
Three Children, Two Careers, One Shared Vision
Any discussion of the couple’s creative partnership must account for the family infrastructure that supports it. Rihanna and Rocky have three children: RZA Athelston Mayers, born in 2022; Riot Rose Mayers, born in August 2023; and Rocki Irish Mayers, born in September 2025. Rihanna revealed the third pregnancy at the 2025 Met Gala, where Rocky served as co-chair.
Fatherhood has altered Rocky’s creative process in practical ways. Speaking to VIBE for a June 2026 cover story, he explained that he rarely records at home because he does not want his children around smoking sessions. “Any kind of space, like 500 square feet or more,” he said, describing his preference for hotels and temporary workspaces. The constraint has not diminished his output – Don’t Be Dumb, his first studio album since 2018, arrived in January 2026 with contributions from Tyler, The Creator, Doechii, and Brent Faiyaz, and its artwork was designed by Tim Burton.
Rocky has also spoken about the kind of films he wants to make as a parent. “I want to do something for my children,” he told reporters. “Everybody’s doing Despicable Me and SpongeBob and s*** like that. I want to do an original DreamWorks/Pixar-ass film, like Soul.” He added: “Whatever I do, it’s gonna be cool and timeless.”
Rihanna’s W Magazine cover story in April 2026 offered a rare window into their domestic life. Rocky described her as “the most charming and genuine person on Earth,” noting that motherhood had changed her while her fundamental essence remained constant: “She has changed a lot because she became a mother in that time span, and that certainly changes you. But this woman has always been magic.”
What Comes Next
The trajectory is clear. Rocky has proven himself as a screen actor capable of commanding scenes alongside Denzel Washington. Rihanna has demonstrated that she can carry an animated franchise and produce simultaneously. Both have articulated ambitions that extend beyond their established domains – he wants to direct; she wants to act more substantively. And both are motivated by a desire to create work that their children can eventually watch.
Whether the long-rumoured ninth Rihanna album materialises in 2027 as The Sun has reported, or whether Rocky’s directorial debut arrives first, the creative partnership between Rihanna and A$AP Rocky has evolved well beyond the Fenty Beauty short film that started the conversation. That two-minute noir vignette was charming. What they are building now – across film, music, fashion, and family – is something considerably more durable.
Rocky, ever the optimist, put it most succinctly in his Variety interview: “I was born for this.”
