Gerard Butler says that filming Den of Thieves 2: Pantera was quite difficult due to some previous physical setbacks.
The Scottish action star, 55, revealed in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly that he filmed most of the highly-anticipated sequel on one leg following a fully torn ACL injury. If that wasn’t enough, Butler says he was also coming off of a pretty intense surgery.
“This was a weird time for me at the beginning of this movie because I’d been through a pretty intense surgery, and then I tore my ACL fully about a month later and then started this movie,” Butler revealed to the outlet. “So I was not in the best shape, and it was a pretty physical movie, and I didn’t have a chance to get the surgery on my ACL, so I made this movie with a freshly torn ACL, and it was pretty rough.”
Butler then stated that enduring the shoot with the injury was a nightmare, later joking that he was not shy about sharing his displeasure.
“It wasn’t positive; it was a nightmare! I was a whiny little bitch,” he said jokingly.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – DECEMBER 18: Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. attend DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA – Atlanta Special Screening with Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Christian Gudegast at Regal Atlantic Station on December 18, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. The film was released worldwide on January 10, 2025.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Lionsgate
O’Shea Jackson Jr., who co-stars in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, joined Butler for the interview, revealing that there were scenes that required the cast to climb a lot of stairs.
“Oh my God,” Jackson said laughing. There were so many stairs in that movie too!”
“There were so many stairs,” Butler agreed. “I’m like, ‘Really, we have to set this whole movie on a hill?’ So it was intense, but it definitely made the action scenes… I had to do less acting.”
This wasn’t the first time Butler spoke publicly about his health. During a 2020 interview with The Courier Mail, the 300 star opened up about reconsidering his career after being in a motorcycle accident.
“I had a surgery that went wrong, which then became seven surgeries. I had a motorcycle accident that almost killed me, and I suddenly thought, ‘There has to be something more,” he admitted.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera was released worldwide on January 10, 2025, a full seven years after the first Den of Thieves film. Butler returns as “Big Nick,” who hunts Jackon’s character, “Donnie Wilson,” in events that immediately precede the first film.
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