‘Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’ Star O’Shea Jackson Jr. on Surviving a Massive Car Crash Stunt With Gerard Butler and Hopes for a ‘Thieves’ Franchise
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains mild spoilers about “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” now playing in theaters.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. is a man of many interests, but he’s betting big on “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” now in theaters via Lionsgate.
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The 2018 original, in which a group of bank robbers (including Jackson Jr.’s Donnie) clash against the cops (led by Gerard Butler’s Big Nick) was a sleeper hit. For the sequel, Big Nick breaks bad for a globetrotting heist alongside Donnie and a new crew. Plenty of gunfights and stunts follow, with Butler and Jackson Jr.’s bromance holding things together.
Ultimately, Jackson Jr. sees these movies as the building blocks of a franchise that could stand tall alongside juggernauts like the “Fast & Furious” saga. The actor spoke to Variety about the joy and anxiety of doing big stunts, what a “Thieves” series could look like and why he’s hoping to expand his work into anime and video games.
There’s so much action in this movie. What kind of tactical training did you go through ahead of time?
My trainer, Harley Pasternak, kicked my ass for a few weeks. In movies, you’ve got to make sure that the chest, shoulder and arms are big. Then, we had tactical training, of course, because Christian Gudegast, our director, his whole thing is attention to detail. Big Nick’s in law enforcement, and Donnie has a Marine tattoo. These guys know what it takes in combat: Simple things like being in formation and their actions are not wasted movements. So those days off of filming are usually spent perfecting your movements and your stance, while either holding your weapon, or even simple things like where you place your seat. If you’re doing tactical driving, how far you would be from the steering wheel, how you would have your mirrors, things like that. I think that’s what makes it such an authentic ride, because it looks like we know what we’re doing.
With all that training, how much of your own stunt work were you able to do on this film?
“Able” is such a weird way to put it, because Lord knows I didn’t want to [laughs]. I remember getting the script and I read, “OK…we get kicked into the ocean. That’s probably gonna be a tank or a pool.” And, no, we got on a boat and we’re driving 20 minutes out into the ocean. We really got kicked in. Another day we’re rappelling down an elevator — I didn’t see that in my future. Even having to climb back up the ropes with bags of merchandise or equipment was tough because of the attention to detail. On camera, if you’re wearing something plastic, it swings differently than something metal with real weight. So there were a lot of times when I thought, “We for sure can cheat this.” But you do things in film that you wouldn’t normally do in real life. At the end of the day, you’re just getting yourself skills for the zombie apocalypse, I guess. So it was safe, great fun with great people that I know cared about me: “Keep Shae safe is the number one rule!” [laughs]
Was there one stunt or maneuver that you were especially proud to nail?
The car crash. We had to crash a Porsche Taycan, and with national treasures O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Gerard Butler, you don’t want to put them in a real crash. So they had this hydraulic arm that they sat the Porsche on. It was attached to an upside-down version of the claw you use in toy machines. It’s supposed to swing at a certain low speed and come to a hard stop to simulate a car crash.
During rehearsals, we did one, and Gerard, who’s a producer, looked at me and said, “It didn’t really feel like a car crash, did it?” Me being his buddy, I’m like, “No, it didn’t.” So we tell the guy who’s working the mechanism, “Hey, is there a way you can turn it up a little bit?” The machine runs on pressure per square inch, and he said, “I could turn it up to…how about five?” Me and Gerard look at each other and we’re like, “Yeah, five sounds good.” Before action, we look at each other and say, “We don’t know a damn thing about PSI…” And then “action!”, and then it rams. I hit my head, he hit his knee and it made the cut.
You learn more about both Donnie and Big Nick in this movie. How did you develop who Donnie was beyond the script?
The beauty of our sequel is that we have a completely different dynamic than the first film. So while fans of the first one are getting the same characters, you’re also getting different versions of those characters. When he came to Donnie, I knew that the audience knows he’s a guy who can come up with a plan to rob the Federal Reserve of Los Angeles and get off scot-free. So it was about showing this chameleon who is precise, completely measured and focused, because he knows one slip-up and it’s over. Instead of being the timid, unsure guy from the first one, I had to show the alpha that he could be.
Usually, actors will go the route of studying other performances or maybe even reading books on the subject. I’d watched a bunch of Kobe [Bryant] and Jon Jones videos. Those are people that I know are so measured in what they do, so deadly serious. It is exactly what you want from a leader when you see Jon Jones in combat in the middle of an Octagon. When you look at Kobe at that first tip-off, he’s locked in, not blinking. You know the Mamba’s fangs are out. It’s what I had to do for this new version of Donnie, that is until, like always, Gerard Butler throws a wrench in my plans.
At the end of the movie, things seem wide open for a “Den of Thieves 3.” As an actor and producer on this film, where would you like your character and the franchise to go from here?
I’m not gonna sugarcoat it: I’m trying to Vin Diesel this thing. To quote Ryan Reynolds, I want to work with Gerard until he’s 90. I just have so much fun doing these and Christian, Gerard, [producer] Tucker Tooley…I can’t express to them enough how I really feel because that’s just not what guys do, but I’ll tell you. When I was early in my career, after “Straight Outta Compton,” I didn’t work for a year. It was because there was a trope against me that, “Of course he can play his dad.” Christian, Tucker and Gerard took a chance on me. They came and believed in me when other places weren’t even offering me scripts. I have such a family feel with these guys. I know how much I want to do these other films, but we cannot cheapen this beautiful thing that we made. This one took six or seven years to get done. I hope the next one doesn’t. In our heart of hearts, we won’t make it if it’s not right and if it’s not the same thing that made audiences fall in love with the franchise in the first place.
Beyond “Thieves,” you’ve done drama, comedy, “Star Wars” and fought both Godzilla and Cocaine Bear. What are some other projects you’d like to tackle?
I’ve been trying to get a Godzilla anime off the ground for quite some time. I really want to get into voiceover work. Video games are my first love, so I want to work in video games in some capacity, whether it’s mocap, voiceover, whatever. But, for now, I think I’m going back into the indies. I’ve always told my team that whatever we do, the next thing has to be night and day from the last. I’m not an actor that’s afraid of the indies, because of “Ingrid Goes West” and “Just Mercy.” The indie route is how you sharpen your blade as an actor. I’ve also got a wrestling podcast, “No-Contest Wrestling,” on the Rich Eisen Podcast Network. The people over at WWE have been so kind to give us superstars to interview. And also, being a dad, I’m watching “Bluey” every day.
Watch the “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” trailer below.
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