Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr chat about Den of Thieves 2: Pantera

Enemies become allies in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera – the sequel to the 2018 action-heist hit Den of Thieves – as Detective “Big Nick” O’Brien (Gerard Butler) and master thief Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr) team up to plan the ultimate crime at one of the impenetrable World Diamond Centres. The brotherhood, humour, and tension between Nick and Donnie reach new heights as their epic robbery plays out with edge-of-your-seat car chases across the Mediterranean. 

Stream Den of Thieves 2: Pantera now.

“We thought, how can we raise it to the next level?” Gerard remembers. “Donnie and Nick are on this collision course. Nick’s going to get his revenge, but it doesn’t quite turn out the way you think. He’s been completely hoodwinked by Donnie, who got the better of him at the end of the first film.”

O’Shea adds, “We’re always taught to cheer for the cops, but the cops in the Den of Thieves films are complex and fallible. It’s a more realistic approach.”

“That’s what both films explore: the line between cop and criminal is sometimes almost invisible,” says director Christian Gudegast, who also wrote and directed Den of Thieves. “One exists only with the other … At its core, this film is a love story between a thief/gangster and a cop. It’s an epic buddy film.” 

Read on as Gerard, O’Shea, and the Den of Thieves 2: Pantera team crack open the vault to reveal what’s up between Nick and Donnie, how they got their hands on the movie’s cutting-edge cars, and why six burly men had to get hot and sweaty together, like a tin of neoprene sardines.

What’s up, Big Nick?

Gerard Butler as Detective “Big Nick” O’Brien

As the story opens, Nick is still seething with humiliation over Donnie turning the tables on him at the end of the first Den of Thieves movie … six years back. In a word, obsessed. “When we're reintroduced to Nick, he’s going through a rough time and grappling with everything that’s happened since he was outmaneuvered by Donnie at the end of the first film,” Gerard Butler notes. “On the one hand, Nick is impressed by Donnie’s smarts; on the other, he wants another shot at him.”

Nick gets his shot when a flight carrying diamonds from Johannesburg is hijacked, and thieves dressed in Police SWAT gear make off with jewels worth tens of millions, including a huge pink diamond that belongs to Mafia don Matteo “The Octopus” Venzolasca (Adriano Chiaramida). French police chief Hugo Kaman (Yasen Zates Atour) blames the Panthers, an elite gang of jewelry thieves out of the Balkans. But Nick suspects Donnie is involved and gets himself assigned to Kaman’s task force, Pantera. And when he manages to track down Donnie, Nick has a plot up his sleeve to get inside with Donnie – on the wrong side of the greatest jewel robbery in history.

Donnie and the Panthers

O’Shea Jackson Jr as Donnie Wilson

As Nick suspects, Donnie has joined the Panthers by posing as a legitimate gems dealer. He and the Panthers’ leader Jovanna (Evin Ahmad) travel to Nice, France, to fence the stolen gems at the World Diamond Centre, where their agent, Chava Falcon (Nazmiye Oral), has used her connections to rent Donnie and Jovanna temporary office space with total security clearance. The Panthers are plotting a complete takedown of the World Diamond Centre. 

“You really see who Donnie is and what motivated him to become involved with a new den of thieves,” says O’Shea, who lost over 15kg to play a leaner, meaner Donnie. “In the first film, Donnie is largely in the background as the mastermind behind the heist at the Federal Reserve. He didn’t want to make waves and stand out. Now, in this film, Donnie is in his own element; he’s calling the shots. Donnie knows what he brings to the table and realises what a major asset he is. Donnie can do it without you, but you can’t do it without Donnie.” 

He’s really going all out! As Donnie adopts a handful of different identities, Shea had to learn to deliver Donnie’s Serbian and French lines like a native speaker, and how to imitate a French-speaking Nigerian who’s really from the Ivory Coast.

“The audience is expecting Donnie and Nick to be on opposite sides, so that also introduces something new,” says O’Shea. “Nick’s always been impressed with Donnie,” adds Gerard. “He has a worthy adversary there, and a silverback gorilla like Nick needs another silverback gorilla to wrestle with.”

Fast 5: Electric Porsches in overdrive

For Den of Thieves: Pantera, director Christian Gudegast wanted to create Hollywood’s first-ever electric car chase scene, using the Porsche Taycan. And as proof that vision boards work, when Christian reached out to them, Porsche were just about to destroy five custom-designed Taycans Turbo S models because they hadn’t been built for on-road use.

Once Christian explained his vision, the Porsche executives were instantly onboard. “They fell in love with the idea,” says Christian. “We got millions of dollars in support and cars. Porsche was an incredible partner.” All five cars were shipped to the film set from Germany, while two Porsche representatives came onboard the film from pre-production, all the way through filming. 

The Den of Thieves production team and Porsche prepared the five Taycan Turbo S models for their different roles. 

1. The unmodified “Hero” Car remained unmodified, and was used in all the actor “beauty” shots. 

2. The “Pod” Car had its drive controls relocated to the roof, which allowed the actors to perform safely during intense stunts. 

3. The “Biscuit Rig” Car was overhauled as a drivable camera platform allowing the film crew to capture dynamic, multi-angle shots. 

4. And Stunt Cars #1 and #2 were extensively re-engineered, with modifications to suspension and braking systems needed to support extreme precision driving and high-speed maneuvres.

Then it was time to coordinate guns, cars and guys, as the chase scene took to winding European mountain roads. “There is a very specific way to wage a gunfight from vehicle to vehicle. I worked with my advisor, Slofko Illich, and wanted the scene to be cinema’s first electric car chase,” says Christian. “You always have to do gun training. There was a lot of firing backwards. There were guys jumping out, firing, jumping back in, reloading, firing, getting hit, almost getting hit. Things are smashing up the entire time. It’s hard work and dangerous at times when we’re 600 metres up in the air with sheer cliff drops below us.”

And if you’ve ever tried just getting into a high performance sports car, you’ll know there’s a lot to unpack!

Gerard Butler admits, “There was so much maneuvering of guns inside the Porsche, which, as much as it’s a beautiful car, wasn’t designed for reloading large guns. The tricky thing was, we sometimes had to fire the weapons backwards. We had to lift off the seat, put our butts back almost into the driver’s face, turn our legs around, and then have one hand out the window. This would all be happening while driving at full speed and making turns around sharp bends.” 

Six neoprene sardines

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’s production designer Sébastien Inizan studied the world’s leading diamond districts intensively to be able to set up the scene of the heist in Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, off West Africa, which stood in for the south of France. 

But his attention to detail led to an especially uncomfortable day on set!

During the heist sequence at the Hatton Bourse, Nick, Donnie, and four other thieves have to hide in a very small European lift shaft, squeezed between the wall and the cab. With no air conditioning or fan allowed because the film needed silence on set, things got sweaty, fast!

Gerard Butler as 'Big Nick' O'Brien in DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA. Photo Credit: Rico Torres for Lionsgate

“At one point we filmed inside these little box rooms with the whole camera crew,” reveals Gerard. “We were dressed in black neoprene bodysuits with thick black masks that stick out half an inch (about one and a half cm) from your face. You put them on, and it feels like you‘re being suffocated. There’s no oxygen, there’s no air, and it’s so hot. A tiny little room with six actors who are panicking, all dressed in black. We’re sweating like crazy, and it’s so hot you think you’re going to have a heat stroke.” 

Christian explains that it was essential for the audience to be in the lift shaft with them. “I want them to feel the tension and emotional and physical toll this kind of heist takes on the characters. I want them to feel like they’re in the diamond centre, with the breathing and the exhaustion and the sweat and having to be quiet – to take them into this insider’s view and live through that experience.”

“This is an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride like the first one,” says O’Shea Jackson. “Expect some mind games being played, so you always must stay on your toes and you’re going to have a good time. There are no spots in the movie where you can go to the restroom, so stay in your seat and enjoy yourself.” 

Stream Den of Thieves 2: Pantera now.