Den of Thieves
Short description
Den of Thieves follows an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and a crew of accomplished bank robbers whose paths converge when the outlaws set their sights on the Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Los Angeles. The unit's leader, known as Big Nick O'Brien, learns of the plan and sets out to stop it, pursuing the robbers by methods that ignore the law. The film sets the two groups against each other as the heist takes shape.
The film was written and directed by Christian Gudegast, marking his feature directing debut before he returned to the story with Den of Thieves 2: Pantera in 2025. Gerard Butler stars as Big Nick O'Brien and also produced, alongside Mark Canton and Tucker Tooley. Pablo Schreiber plays crew leader Ray Merrimen, with O'Shea Jackson Jr. as Donnie Wilson, 50 Cent as Enson Levoux, Meadow Williams as Holly and Maurice Compte as Benny Magalon.
Made for about 30 million dollars, the film took in roughly 81 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from about 152,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.9 out of 10 from some 3,500 votes, while the critics' rating stands lower at 5.1 out of 10 from 136 reviews. The gap suggests audiences responded to it more warmly than reviewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- Six years before filming began, the action movie script fell into the hands of 50 Cent. The musician was impressed with the story, especially its characters. At the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, 50 Cent personally approached one of the film's producers with a request to participate in the project.
- For the role of Big Nick, Gerard Butler gained almost 15 kilograms.
- Most of the characters in the film turned out as envisioned in the script. The exception is the character played by O’Shea Jackson Jr. – due to the actor’s age (he was born in 1991), some changes were made to his character’s personality.
- The film is set in Los Angeles, however, due to an ice storm, filming had to be moved to Atlanta.
- The prototype for Big Nick (Gerard Butler) was Jerry, a film consultant who had spent years moving in criminal circles.
- Work on the film began in 2003, when director Christian Gudegast and the screenwriter received a carte blanche from New Line Cinema, and continued for almost 14 years. At one point, the now-defunct Relativity Media was considered as the film's distributor.
- To enhance realism, two training camps were created during filming – one for the actors playing police officers and one for those portraying criminals. The creators aimed to foster a spirit of competition within the cast and crew. Furthermore, military consultant Paul Morris developed an individual training program for each group.
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