Uncovering the Story Behind the 'Den of Thieves 2: Pantera' Trailer - An Oral History

Den of Thieves is getting a sequel. That’s proper: The heist film from 2018 starring Gerard Butler as the onerous-consuming, morally doubtful Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detective “Big Nick” O’Brien has spawned a franchise. If something about The Ringer or the people who work at The Ringer, you’ll perceive how extremely vital that is to us. This would possibly as nicely be the Super Bowl.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, will not be, as I mistakenly thought after I learn the title too quick, about robbers taking down a sequence of bakery cafés. It additionally has nothing to do with the metal band. The motion flick, which hits theaters on January 10, is called for one thing related to its plot. I’ll let author-director Christian Gudegast clarify: “It comes very specifically from the name of the task force that was tasked with hunting down the thieves responsible for a series of heists throughout Europe that were perpetuated by a group known as the Pink Panthers, or Panther mafia, who are largely from the Balkan region of Eastern Europe.” In Spanish, you see, “pantera” means “panther.” The multinational group that got down to cease the gang, Gudegast provides, “was called Task Force Pantera.”

All this to say: Den of Thieves 2 is about a global jewel heist. O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s character, Donnie Wilson, the secret mastermind of the first installment, is an element of a squad that schemes to knock over the World Diamond Center. (Hell yeah, brother.) Except this time, it appears as if Big Nick is switching groups and becoming a member of the legal aspect. (HELL YEAH, BROTHER.)

We miraculously received our palms on the first trailer for Pantera this week. To us, this teaser is as valuable as $30 million in old, unfit bills. And for that cause, we’re bestowing upon it the editorial equal of the Criterion therapy: an oral historical past.

Tucker Tooley (producer): Look, we’re blessed to have each our friendship and our relationship with Gerry. He’s one of just a few film stars on the market who get motion pictures inexperienced-lit. And he’s busy as a result of he may be and since he loves it, and so that you’ve received to get in line and wait. And then COVID on prime of all of it.

Christian Gudegast (author-director): I used to be going to do that film known as Plane with Gerry, after which he mentioned, “OK, let’s do Plane, but we’ll do Den right after.” I’m like, “Well, then I can’t do Plane.” So then I didn’t do Plane as a result of we’re going to do Den. But then he ended up doing Kandahar after. And the subsequent factor , it’s like three years later. That’s simply the method it goes.

Tooley: Relatively talking, sure—it took lots longer than we needed to, however in comparison with some of the motion pictures that I’ve executed, even the first Den, which took 10 years, this was a much less tumultuous path.

Alan Siegel (producer): We’ve had six years of anticipation, and now we're delivering one thing that not solely lives as much as the first movie, but additionally surprises them in methods they didn’t anticipate. It’s a triumphant return and a thrill to be again on this world.

(Editor’s word: This Alan Siegel is totally different from the Alan Siegel who wrote this text. This Alan Siegel is Gerard Butler’s manager and producing partner. The different Alan Siegel can't get your screenplay inexperienced-lit.)

Gudegast: For certain, we did [envision a sequel] from the very starting. Just as a result of in the analysis for the very first one, which was a very long time in the past now, but additionally this one, they’re all based mostly on actual heists. And whereas researching—actually deep, deep diving on the world of heists and financial institution robbers and thieves round the world—we uncovered all types of superb heists.

And it’s all in the element. The particulars are superb and interesting, how they really do it and why they do it and the varieties of folks that do it. For financial institution robbers, it’s by no means about the cash in any respect. I do know it sounds ridiculous, however it actually isn’t. For some of the folks they create alongside the method, it's. They lengthy for construction in life, and it provides them a cause for being. It provides them a function and a purpose. And they be sure it’s onerous, so it takes time. It’s like getting a black belt in a martial artwork. It takes without end. The prime guys go for these heists that appear not possible and insane, they usually pull them off.

Tooley: It’s humorous, as a result of after we screened the film, folks can be like, “Yeah, that’s where you abandoned reality and went to fiction.” We have been like, “No. Actually, never. To the detail, it is what happened.”

Gudegast: This one which’s in Den 2 was based mostly on what was known as the flawless heist. The World Diamond Centre in Europe. It was simply so meticulously executed. And we had on our set with us, in script writing and in taking pictures, each the guys on the legal aspect that have been concerned in the thievery and on the legislation enforcement aspect. So the lead investigator was there the entire time with us. So what you will notice in the film is an exceptionally correct portrayal of the way it was truly executed.

(Editor’s word: The actual World Diamond Centre is spelled the European method.)

Chris Ryan (Den of Thieves correspondent, The Ringer): I’d like to be half of a rebrand marketing campaign for the World Diamond Centre as a result of I believe they're placing a bit of a goal on their backs.

Tooley: The first visible impression of your film is extremely vital. An viewers has been socialized to get 20 items of content material forward of a film, together with outside promoting and a poster. It was possibly a teaser, a trailer, and that’s it, after which your TV spots. Now, it’s much more than that.

Gudegast: I really like trailers. Sometimes trailers have been the better part of going to the motion pictures, what I imply? But for me, the ones that left the greatest impressions on me have been, for instance, The Shining. Greatest trailer ever. The elevator door, and the blood begins pouring out in slo-mo, and it splashes all the furnishings. That’s it. For me, the ones that inform the entire story all the method, these are much less attention-grabbing. I like trailers that evoke a temper and a sense. If I believe it feels cool, I don’t give a rat’s ass what it’s about.

Tooley: Everyone’s conscious of trailer moments.

Gudegast: You might say it whilst you’re taking pictures. We’ll be like, “trailer moment” after a take of some type, some shot, or the method someone delivered one thing, or a glance or no matter. It provides a bit of enhance to the day. “Well, that was pretty badass.”

What are the Den of Thieves 2: Pantera trailer’s trailer moments? I’m going with Big Nick pointing a gun at Donnie and saying, “You’re not a killer. I am.” And additionally Donnie saying, with some astonishment, “And the cop goes gangster.”

Gudegast: It all tracks with [Nick’s] persona. That’s what each Den 1 and actually Den 2 explores. The line between cop and legal, it’s nearly generally invisible. They’re the similar kind of dude. Life circumstances led them to at least one or the different. They’re very, very related varieties of human beings. And that’s what’s attention-grabbing. Think of any enterprise: Hollywood, actual property, medical doctors, attorneys. You all know one another. It’s the similar factor with cops and criminals. One solely exists with out the different.

Ryan: To be sincere, this featured 100% much less “Pantera” than I used to be anticipating. Beyond that, I’m simply so proud that America’s contribution to the transatlantic cultural change now features a Big Nick chapter.

Gudegast: The concept is to continuously have motion with the franchise, which we’re going to do with [Den of Thieves] 3. We’re going to go to a different world.

Interviews have been edited and condensed for readability.