All heists in Den Of Thieves 2 are based on real heists (Exclusive)

Note: The rest of this interview contains spoilers for Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, so proceed accordingly.

I would love to hear more about the Big Nick arc in particular. There’s a nice reveal at the end where Nick turns these people into the police, but he’s on such a low level that it seems plausible that he could actually legitimately flip. So tell me about the changes you wanted the audience to experience with this character in this movie compared to what we saw in the first one.

So this is again what we just talked about. Is it like where Nick is in his life when he goes on this journey? Perhaps he went there with one intention: “I’m going to knock Dhoni down. This magpie pisses me off. He got away with it.” And then he gets there and meets local guys from law enforcement, he doesn’t get along with them. They treat him like shit. And he’s in a strange place, and suddenly he sees someone he knows, even if it’s Donnie, it’s a familiar face. It’s like when you’re traveling somewhere in the world and you see someone (and yourself) and you’re like, “Oh my god, what’s up, dude?” and there is an instant connection and he experiences all these emotions. It’s like a roller coaster, it’s constantly up and down. We wanted to play with that throughout the film to get a feel for it which way is he going to go? and understand the journey, the emotional roller coaster he is on.

But at the end of the day, it’s like, “Man, I’m a cop. I can’t do it.’ But at the same time, he says, “It’s a lot of fun.” And with the technical advisor and consultant, my friend who worked with us on Den 1, Jay, we talked a lot with him about the character of Nick in Den 2. And Jay was an undercover cop for years, and there’s that push-pull thing, right? You come into the world and you’re all excited and hooray and “I’m going to beat these guys” and then you get to know them and you actually like them. And then, when the time comes to destroy them, you will feel like the devil. They become almost a surrogate family for him. Now he destroys it. It’s like, “My family life at home is messed up. Now I have a new family, and now I’m destroying them too.” And it feels awful. It’s like, “Who am I? What am I doing?” It’s a bit of an identity crisis.

There are so many great heist movies that touch on this. I think of Point Break and the Fast and Furious movies do that too. So, in terms of cinematic references, there are obviously a million heist movies out there. So you’ve been following anyone who’s getting ready for it, or aspects that you wanted to pay tribute to, or things that you knew you did not do want to do?

I’ve seen 10 minutes of the first Fast and Furious and none of the others. None of them. Indeed, “Ronin” was a big influence. Gomorrah, Suburra, and then a lot of the old French New Wave, like Melville and The Pink Circle and Rififi and Barsalino and all those great movies. I mean I’ve seen most of the old school classics. To be honest, I haven’t seen a lot of new things. But really it’s about you doing your research, you go out into the world and you do your own thing. You try to be unique and original for yourself. You’re not really trying to… I mean, obviously as artists, we all have influences, sure, but there wasn’t anything in particular that we were (seeking) to honor. More energy and atmosphere of some films. Ronin was a big, again, American character in Europe and kind of a mix of American and European cinema, right? But there was no specific respect, no.

Have you ever worried that because it’s been a few years since the first movie came out, there’s going to be another modern day heist movie with a very similar plot or something. As a director, do you ever worry about that?

I mean, you’re always like, you know what I mean? I’ve had times in the past as a writer where you write a script, a spec, and it’s great, and then suddenly you realize it’s very, very similar. I had that once years ago, I was working on a project called The Company, and then just as we were about to set it up and go into production, The Rookie came out with Colin Farrell and Al Pacino. And honestly, it was essentially the same movie. So that killed our movie. They were several months ahead of us. So yes, of course you think about it, but you just have to do your best, do your thing and hope for the best, right?