DIY VIRAL
Note: The rest of this interview contains spoilers “Den of Thieves 2: Panther”, so act accordingly.
I'd love to know more about Big Nick's arc in particular. There's a nice reveal at the end when Nick turns these people into the police, but he's at such a low point that it seems plausible that he could have legitimately flipped. So tell me about the changes you wanted the audience to experience with this character in this film compared to what we saw in the first one.
So that goes back to what we just talked about. It's like where is Nick in his life when he goes on this journey? Maybe he went there with one intention: “I'm going to put Donny down. This mother pisses me off. He got away.” And then he gets there and meets the local law enforcement guys, he doesn't get along with them. They treat him like crap. And he's in a strange place and then suddenly he sees someone he knows, even though it's Donnie, it's a familiar face. It's like if you're traveling somewhere on the side of the world and you see somebody (and you're) like, “Oh my God, what's going on, man?” and there's an instant connection and he experiences all these emotions. It's like a roller coaster, this constant up and down. We wanted to play with that throughout the film to get the feel which way will he go? and understand the journey, the emotional roller coaster he's on.
But at the end of the day, it's like, “Man, I'm a cop. I can't do this.” But at the same time, he says, “It's pretty fun.” And the technical advisor and consultant, my friend who worked with us on Den 1, Jay, we talked a lot about Nick's character in Den 2. And Jay was an undercover cop for years and years, and there's that push-pull, right? You get into the world and you're all gung ho and rah-rah and “I'm going to take these guys down” and then you get to know them and you really like them. And then when it's time to put them down, you feel like crap. They almost become a surrogate family for him. Now he destroys it. It's like, “My family life at home is messed up. Now I have this new family, and now I'm cutting them down, too.” And he feels terrible. 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 use it. I think of Point Break, and the Fast and Furious movies do that too. So when it comes to cinematic references, there are obviously a million heist movies. So, did you watch any of those in preparation for either the aspects you wanted to honor or the things you knew didn't do do you want to do?
I saw 10 minutes of the first Fast and Furious and didn't see anyone else. None of them. It really was, “Ronin” was a big influence. “Gomorrah”, “Suburra” and then many old French New Wave like Melville and “Le Cercle Rouge” and “Rififi” and “Borsalino” and all those great films. I think I've seen most of the old school classics. To be honest, a lot of the new stuff I haven't seen that much. But it's really about you doing research, you go out into the world and you do your thing. You try to be unique and original to yourself. You're not really trying to… I think we all have influences as artists, of course, but there wasn't anything specific that we (went for), tribute-wise. More energy and mood for certain films. “Ronin” was a big, again American image in Europe and kind of a mix between American and European cinema, right? But there was no special tribute, no.
Do you ever worry, since it's been years since the first movie, that there's going to be another modern day heist movie with a very similar plot point or something. As a filmmaker, do you ever worry about that?
I mean you always do, you know what I mean? As a writer, I've had cases in the past where you write a script, a spec, and it's great, and then suddenly you realize it's coming out very, very similar. I had it once years ago, I was working on a project called The Company, and when we were just about to make it and we went to make it, The Recruit came out with Colin Farrell and Al Pacino. And honestly, it was basically the same movie. So that killed our movie. They beat us by a few months. Yes, of course you think about it, but you have to go all out, do everything and hope for the best, right?
Source link
DIY VIRAL
