The Oral History of the ‘Den of Thieves 2: Pantera’ Trailer That Just Came Out

Den of Thieves is getting a sequel. That’s right: The heist movie from 2018 starring Gerard Butler as the hard-drinking, morally dubious Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detective “Big Nick” O’Brien has spawned a franchise. If you know anything about The Ringer or the people who work at The Ringer, you’ll understand how incredibly important this is to us. This might as well be the Super Bowl.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, is not, as I mistakenly thought when I read the title too fast, about robbers taking down a chain of bakery cafés. It also has nothing to do with the metal band. The action flick, which hits theaters on January 10, is named for something relevant to its plot. I’ll let writer-director Christian Gudegast explain: “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 team that set out to stop the gang, Gudegast adds, “was called Task Force Pantera.”

All this to say: Den of Thieves 2 is about an international jewel heist. O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s character, Donnie Wilson, the secret mastermind of the first installment, is part of a squad that schemes to knock over the World Diamond Center. (Hell yeah, brother.) Except this time, it seems as if Big Nick is switching teams and joining the criminal side. (HELL YEAH, BROTHER.)

We miraculously got our hands on the first trailer for Pantera this week. To us, this teaser is as precious as $30 million in old, unfit bills. And for that reason, we’re bestowing upon it the editorial equivalent of the Criterion treatment: an oral history.

Tucker Tooley (producer): Look, we’re blessed to have both our friendship and our relationship with Gerry. He’s one of only a few movie stars out there who get movies green-lit. And he’s busy because he can be and because he loves it, and so you’ve got to get in line and wait. And then COVID on top of it all.

Christian Gudegast (writer-director): I was going to do this movie called Plane with Gerry, and then he said, “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 because we’re going to do Den. But then he ended up doing Kandahar after. And the next thing you know, it’s like three years later. That’s just the way it goes.

Tooley: Relatively speaking, yes—it took a lot longer than we wanted to, but compared to some of the movies that I’ve done, even the first Den, which took 10 years, this was a less tumultuous path.

Alan Siegel (producer): We’ve had six years of anticipation, and now we are delivering something that not only lives up to the first film, but also surprises them in ways they didn’t expect. It’s a triumphant return and a thrill to be back in this world.

(Editor’s note: This Alan Siegel is different from the Alan Siegel who wrote this article. This Alan Siegel is Gerard Butler’s manager and producing partner. The other Alan Siegel cannot get your screenplay green-lit.)

Gudegast: For sure, we did [envision a sequel] from the very beginning. Just because in the research for the very first one, which was a long time ago now, but also this one, they’re all based on real heists. And while researching—really deep, deep diving on the world of heists and bank robbers and thieves around the world—we uncovered all kinds of amazing heists.

And it’s all in the detail. The details are amazing and fascinating, how they actually do it and why they do it and the types of people that do it. For bank robbers, it’s never about the money at all. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it really isn’t. For some of the people they bring along the way, it is. They long for structure in life, and it gives them a reason for being. It gives them a purpose and a goal. And they make sure it’s hard, so it takes time. It’s like getting a black belt in a martial art. It takes forever. The top guys go for these heists that seem impossible and insane, and they pull them off.

Tooley: It’s funny, because when we screened the movie, people would be like, “Yeah, that’s where you abandoned reality and went to fiction.” We were like, “No. Actually, never. To the detail, it is what happened.”

Gudegast: This one that’s in Den 2 was based on what was referred to as the flawless heist. The World Diamond Centre in Europe. It was just so meticulously done. And we had on our set with us, in script writing and in shooting, both the guys on the criminal side that were involved in the thievery and on the law enforcement side. So the lead investigator was there the whole time with us. So what you will see in the movie is an exceptionally accurate portrayal of how it was actually done.

(Editor’s note: The real World Diamond Centre is spelled the European way.)

Chris Ryan (Den of Thieves correspondent, The Ringer): I’d love to be part of a rebrand campaign for the World Diamond Centre because I think they are putting a bit of a target on their backs.

Tooley: The first visual impression of your movie is incredibly important. An audience has been socialized to get 20 pieces of content ahead of a movie, including outdoor advertising and a poster. It used to be maybe a teaser, a trailer, and that’s it, and then your TV spots. Now, it’s a lot more than that.

Gudegast: I love trailers. Sometimes trailers were the best part of going to the movies, you know what I mean? But for me, the ones that left the biggest impressions on me were, for example, The Shining. Greatest trailer ever. The elevator door, and the blood starts pouring out in slo-mo, and it splashes all the furniture. That’s it. For me, the ones that tell the whole story all the way, those are less interesting. I like trailers that evoke a mood and a feeling. If I think it feels cool, I don’t give a rat’s ass what it’s about.

Tooley: Everyone’s aware of trailer moments.

Gudegast: You could say it while you’re shooting. We’ll be like, “trailer moment” after a take of some kind, some shot, or the way somebody delivered something, or a look or whatever. It gives a little boost 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 also Donnie saying, with some astonishment, “And the cop goes gangster.”

Gudegast: It all tracks with [Nick’s] persona. That’s what both Den 1 and really Den 2 explores. The line between cop and criminal, it’s almost sometimes invisible. They’re the same type of dude. Life circumstances led them to one or the other. They’re very, very similar types of human beings. And that’s what’s interesting. Think of any business: Hollywood, real estate, doctors, lawyers. You all know each other. It’s the same thing with cops and criminals. One only exists without the other.

Ryan: To be honest, this featured 100 percent less “Pantera” than I was expecting. Beyond that, I’m just so proud that America’s contribution to the transatlantic cultural exchange now includes a Big Nick chapter.

Gudegast: The idea is to constantly have movement with the franchise, which we’re going to do with [Den of Thieves] 3. We’re going to go to another world.

Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.