Summary

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is a direct sequel that reunites Gerard Butler’s “Big Nick” O’Brien and O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s Donnie Wilson in Europe for a diamond heist.

In this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Butler and Jackson discuss their characters’ chemistry in the sequel, performing dangerous stunts, and reveal a shocking side of filmmaking.

In honor of CCXP, the duo also share what they love collecting and which movie or show they would have loved to be a part of.

Released in January 2018 and helmed by writer-director Christian Gudegast, heist-thriller Den of Thieves made an impact with audiences as a crowd-pleasing, high-octane alternative to the slew of award movies released that season. Its success was achieved greatly by its beloved cast, led by Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson, Jr., and their winning chemistry. Naturally, with a successful following comes a successful franchise, and seven years later comes Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. Butler and Jackson are back for another ride, upping the story, the thrills, and the laughs.
Written and directed by Gudegast, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is a direct sequel to the original story, as Butler’s Sheriff “Big Nick” O’Brien follows Jackson’s Donnie Wilson’s trail all the way to Europe. Soon, he finds himself entrenched in the dangerous world of diamond thieves and the treacherous Panther Mafia, plotting a massive diamond heist of their own. The film co-stars Kurdish actress Evin Ahmad (Who Is Erin Carter?) and Italian actor Salvatore Esposito (Fargo).
While at CCXP in São Paulo, Brazil, Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Butler and O’Shea to dive deep into their Den of Thieves sequel. During this interview, they discuss what it takes to bring a high-impact, action-packed heist scene to the big screen, the audience’s infatuation with their magnetic shared chemistry, and Jackson’s outspoken love of classic Godzilla.
What Do Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson, Jr. Collect?

Image via Toho

O’SHEA JACKSON JR: Steve, you monster! Good to see you.
COLLIDER: Nice to see you, sir. If you can’t tell, this is not a matte painting behind me. I’m actually in Brazil at CCXP, which is a huge Comic-Con. I like throwing curveballs in my interviews, as you maybe both know. Is there anything that you collect or used to collect? That’s a big thing at Comic-Con.
JACKSON: Oh my God. You know damn well, bro — Godzilla merch. Because of my man, Chris Mirjahangir, bro, I get all the merch I could possibly get. Definitely Godzilla stuff, all type of nerd culture. Steve, stop acting like you don’t know me, bro. What is this question? Ask Gerard.
This is also aimed at Gerard. I don’t actually know what he collects. Also, let’s be honest, dude, you might have a few sports collectibles.
JACKSON: Oh yeah, I got a couple of Kobe memorabilia and things like that. Big3 merch, of course.
Of course.
GERARD BUTLER: No, I don’t have much in the way of merch. I have some sports stuff, but that’s more from Scotland — Celtic tops from games that I played in or South African rugby tops. But that shit doesn’t work in America. I have a lot of coins, naval coins. I feel like I have enough to fill up the Federal Reserve of naval coins and stuff like that. But no, I’m not really a big merch guy.
If you could be an extra in any TV show or movie going back to the beginning of cinema, what would you want to be an extra on?
JACKSON: For sure, Baywatch. Sorry. Forgive me. They just seemed like they were having such a good time. [Laughs]
BUTLER: Actually, yeah, Baywatch would be a good one. Barbarella, that would be a good one. Oh my God, I don’t know.
JACKSON: I mean, I would love to be like, “Yeah, that’s me running in Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla,” or something like that. Preferably [Godzilla vs.] Gigan.
Was ‘Den of Thieves’ Always Going to Have a Sequel?

“You never want to put yourself into a bubble.”

When you guys were making the first [Den of Thieves], Chris [Gudegast] was saying to me that he envisioned this as more than one movie back when he was making the first. How much did he say that to you guys when you were making it?
BUTLER: I think he’s lying. I actually think Christian is lying. I don’t believe there was any thought to making a second movie. I think it was just a great script that we had. Then, when we saw how good the movie was, we were like, “Oh, wait a minute, these are actually great characters, and the movie’s gone down okay. What about a second one?” I don’t think we were talking about a second one when we were making it.
JACKSON: As a creator, you hope for that bit of longevity, but it’s all on the execution. All of our ideas are perfect in our minds, but the execution is what’s important. And then the response that we got… We deal in a world where fans really, really push the needle for us. So, to leave it open-ended is what you should do as a creator; you never want to put yourself into a bubble. But we couldn’t be happier with how things have turned out — to be here again, to be able to flip the script like we have, to do it in a team-up fashion. We’re grateful for the fan support, and we like to leave things open just in case.

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I think one of the highlights of this movie is actually just the scenes of you two together — that shit on the street and at the party when you’re getting messed up. You guys are really good together. In the first movie, you’re not really together. What was it like actually working together? Does each of you work in a certain way that is similar to the other person or radically different?
JACKSON: This time going around, it was definitely refreshing. I don’t know if you’re aware, but I don’t get beat up as much as I did in the first one, in the second one. We started to realize we both like having a good time, even though our job can be so serious. It really speaks to having somebody that you can kinda breathe a little bit with, shoot the shit a little bit with. It helps with morale, and great morale makes great movies in my book.
BUTLER: I felt so bad in the first movie because we were always either degrading him, punching him, slapping him, or humiliating him. In there, I was like, “He’s a good kid, but he’s also a good instinctual, raw actor.” I liked what he was doing. At the end of that movie, when you see him in a bar in London and Big Nick, like [Mimes smoking a cigar], “Well played,” it does lay it out beautifully for a second one.
Then getting a chance to come together at a different level. We were improvising a bunch. Just us being together, you knew there was gonna be some fun stuff coming in that chemistry. I could feel that chemistry for sure in the first movie, but we were given a lot more opportunity in the second movie to dive into things and entertain.
Gerard Butler Breaks Down Heart-Pounding Action

“You got to trust each other, and you’ll find that gold.”

Image via Lionsgate

I love watching sequences and car chases, but I don’t think people realize what it’s actually like to film those things and the level of what you actually have to do. Can you pull back the curtain a little bit on what it’s really like to film a heist sequence like in Den of Thieves 2?
JACKSON: It’s a lot of planning. It’s a lot of planning because you don’t really have the time to mess around and get it wrong. There’s obviously some growing that has to happen. Like everything, repetition finds perfection. But then when you got somebody like Christian who has the vision, and him and Gerard have been able to make some pretty good gold for quite some time… Going into those scenes, number one: the stunts. The stunt team has to be right. They have to be able to show you and to be able to speak to you as a performer, to know what you’re gonna get yourself into. You gotta trust each other. You gotta trust each other, and you’ll find that gold.
BUTLER: But there does come a point, once you get there, that you’ve just got to go. “Let’s go. We’re here. Let’s dive in.”
JACKSON: Just do it. Just do it. Just do it.
BUTLER: Especially in these movies because, yeah, there is a lot of planning, but also, we’re always trying to shoot more movie than we really have time for, if we’re being honest.
JACKSON: [Laughs] I like that.

Image via Lionsgate

BUTLER: That’s actually what’s also great about these movies; when you are in a heist, you can tell that we are in a heist. We were moving fast. It was hot. We were wearing costumes that were very difficult to breathe in. We were overheating, and we were climbing, and we were jumping, and we were pulling, and you were going and going and going. Sometimes, as we started a scene, my heart was still racing from finishing the last scene. I’m like, “This is getting bloody dangerous.”
Then in the car stuff, trying to reload, there’s shit flying everywhere, and then jump out the window and shoot back with the cars swerving, and you’re missing walls by a couple of feet. Then those hairpin bends. Every time we went on those hairpin bends — a 2,000-foot drop — I’m like, “I don’t have a good feeling about this. There’s a point where we are not going to stick to that road.” And we did! It was incredible, but it didn’t feel like that. It felt very on the edge of control, which is actually perfect. If you make it, and then it’s in the movie, it’s perfect.
JACKSON: Shows up great on camera. [Laughs]
What Does It Really Take to Pull Off Blockbuster Actions?

“Wow, I just got hit by a train.”

Image via Lionsgate

The more I’ve been talking to actors and directors and learning about the making of movies, I just don’t think people at home understand what it’s really like making a film. They think that it’s all luxurious and glamorous, and it’s like getting in the mud sometimes or risking your life to get something great on screen.
BUTLER: Absolutely. People have no idea. Anytime I have a friend coming to visit a movie set that I’m on, even just a regular day, but if it’s a hard day, and they come to set, by the end, there’s almost nobody that comes and doesn’t go, “I had no idea how exhausting or how dangerous or just how much stamina…” And by the way, it’s fun, but it’s a lot harder than people think. And as an actor, you’re like, “Shut up. Oh, it must be really–” But in actual fact, don’t get me wrong, it’s one of the most fun professions in the world, but also, I’ve done a few other things, and this is the toughest but the most rewarding in a way. But yeah, it beats you up.
JACKSON: It’s not only the physicality, but just the mental exhaustion that goes into it, too, to call on an emotion that you’re probably not even feeling that day. Then, once you think you got it, we’re probably going to do it 11 more times. [Laughs]
BUTLER: Eleven!?
JACKSON: Then on the other setup, you’re gonna have to do it again another 11, and then the wide, you’re gonna do it another 11. You’re asking your body to bring out things that normally go off of adrenaline and emotion and all these things, and you have to artificially make it do that. So by the end of the day, when your head hits that pillow, you’re like, “Wow, I just got hit by a train.”
BUTLER: And by the way, you get through that, but you’re like, “Yeah, we did it!” They go, “Okay, 9 a.m., you can have a coffee. Next scene! Let’s go.” You’re like, “Now we’re going to the wall. Now it’s the wall. Now, it’s the elevator shaft. Now we’re in the room. Now we’re in the car.” You’re only 10% of the way through the day, and you already feel like you’ve just come out of a battle.
JACKSON: Then, at the end of the day, you shoot the beginning, where you pull up to the heist in the first place. You gotta be calm. [Laughs]
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera races into theaters on Friday, January 10.

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Big Nick is back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie, who is embroiled in the treacherous world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world’s largest diamond exchange.

Director

Christian Gudegast

Cast

Gerard Butler
, O’Shea Jackson Jr.
, Meadow Williams
, Jordan Bridges
, Evin Ahmad
, Swen Temmel
, Bob Jennings
, Michael Bisping
, Salvatore Esposito
, Orli Shuka
, Cristian Solimeno
, Nazmiye Oral
, Yasen Zates Atour
, Dino Kelly
, Rico Verhoeven
, Velibor Topic
, Antonio Bustorff
, Yuri D. Brown
, Birol Tarkan Yıldız
, John West Jr
, Ciryl Gane
, Mark Grosy
, Ignacio Herráez
, Stéphane Coulon

Writers

Christian Gudegast

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