Gerard Butler & O'Shea Jackson Jr. Talk Den of Thieves 2: Pantera

Hey, I'm Allison with FlickDirect, and I am here with Gerard Butler and O'Shea Jackson Jr. to talk about Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. Hello, gentlemen! How are you? I like your t-shirt. Well, thank you. Look at that. Let me ask you, did you ever think you'd be sitting across from someone in an interview wearing your face on their shirt? Yeah, I'm just surprised how long it took.

No, I didn't. You're right. By the way, that's a good question, because it is good to appreciate these moments, you know, rather than just go, well, that's funny, you kind of go, wow, how did this happen? Does it surprise you? Sometimes. Did you know the weird thing? I feel like what helped my career is less surprises, expectations. I kind of go, of course I'm going there.

Of course I'm going there. That helped me when I was starting out, but it did take a little bit of the magic away, because you were kind of expecting rather than, oh, if this happened, it would be a dream come true. But that's why I say it is good to stop and go. You know, a day on set, you're exhausted, you're an hour 14, but then you kind of stop, you look around, you see everybody dressed up as soldiers or whatever it is, where you're at, and you're like, come on.

Right. Really. So why are we revisiting these characters and why now? A lot of it is the fans. You know, we were so grateful for the wave of fandom that we got from the first one, and it got to a point where it's like, you can't just leave them high and dry like that. We got to see. We got to see what else these guys have in store. And it allowed us to put new layers onto the character.

You know, Nick is different from the first one, the same way Donnie is. And we get to see them team up and have this chemistry. And, you know, it raises new questions for the audience, just like, who exactly is in the right? Who am I really rooting for? Do I even have to be worried? So it was, it's just too fun to pass up. Yeah. What has Donnie, do you think, learned from Nick and vice versa in this second film?

Oh, I watched my back a little bit better because he snuck into my apartment. He did. I'm really going to start locking these doors. But, yeah, I think they have a new level of understanding for one another that doesn't necessarily always lead to a tighter or even a friendship at all. But it's truly... It's truly something special to kind of see their arc from the beginning to the middle.

And, of course, man, I can't really tell them anything but the end of the film. But, yeah. Just tell me. Yeah, yeah. It's really cool to see their dynamic shift from night and day. Yeah. And what do you think Nick had learned? I think that there's a new appreciation from Nick as to the stress and hardships and challenges that you've got to go through.

And I think that Nick is a villain. You know, when I kind of join forces with him and then I see the trouble he's got himself into, I'm a bit left like, "Okay, okay. I'm definitely learning that." I also think in the first movie, he was quite willing to not be the tough guy, you know, to sit back and be thought less of. And in this movie, now I see really who he is.

And I think Nick has an appreciation of that. Because I think Nick typically needs to be the alpha, top dog. Yeah. In every moment. Yeah. And, you know, there's a lot to be learned from the fact that, yes, sometimes you need to do that. And there's other times better to sit back and know the end game that you're playing. I think that they have a mutual respect now that they did not have before.

That was a great answer, Gerard, by the way. Thank you. You get points for that one. This is like our fifth day of interviews and since this time I got that. Oh, good. That was a good one. I'm glad my answers have been good. That was really good. Save the best for last. Thank you. Yes. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. Bye.