O'Shea Jackson Jr. leads the heists and the box office with 'Den of Thieves 2: Pantera'

O’Shea Jackson Jr. returns as Donnie, the once-unassuming heist driver, who is now front and center with box office star Gerard Butler for the Den of Thieves sequel.

The first time O’Shea Jackson Jr. played Donnie Wilson, he was the unassuming driver for a seemingly impossible bank heist in 2018’s “Den of Thieves.”

Seven years later, Jackson returns as Donnie in “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” this time front and center with box office star Gerard Butler.

“It was the feeling of being able to go back to a character and kind of revisit an old friend of yours,” Jackson told NBC News. “In the first one, Donnie is so under the radar. He’s so, just, out of the way, you don’t really want to pay too much attention to him. In this one, people know what to expect from Donnie, so there’s no more hiding, and you have to bring his personality and his attitude, mindset, to the forefront. That’s exciting to do.”

Produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, “Den of Thieves 2” is the follow-up to the first film, in which a group of thieves pulls off a heist of the heavily surveilled L.A. Federal Reserve, thwarting hard-nosed cop Big Nick, played by Butler. Jackson’s Donnie, the heist’s driver, emerged as the hero who escaped to London. And he’s still the hero — or more accurately the antihero — in the sequel.

Keeping his talents in Europe, Donnie from L.A. has transformed himself into Jean-Jacques, a mysterious diamond dealer with African roots. Beset by the personal woes of divorce and an empty bank account, Big Nick has tracked Donnie down not to bring him to justice, but to join his next big-stakes heist. That includes a meticulously planned and ambitious hit on the ultrasecure World Diamond Center.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/oshea-jackson-jr-box-office-den-thieves-2-pantera-rcna187848

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