Silent Star

And that was the plan from the outset. Director and screenwriter Christian Gudegast incorporated the Taycan into the plot before he knew whether Porsche would even participate in the movie. “We needed a car that was incredibly fast, agile, and quiet. And that is only possible with an electric sports car,” says Gudegast, explaining his thought process when writing the screenplay. “It had to be plausible that the thieves could get into the high-security diamond exchange and back out again without anyone even noticing they were there.”

Sounds like a job for the Taycan Turbo. But various electronic and mechanical modifications had to be made before the action-packed scenes could hit the big screen.

In the movie, pod cars are used to take pictures in the interior while the car is being driven externally by a precision driver. In the case of the construction used for Den of Thieves 2, the stuntman controlled the vehicle from the roof. This was necessary so that the actors could give their best performance while being exposed to the physical forces of the chase. It goes without saying that the actors couldn’t make the car perform stunts at top speed and play gun-toting diamond thieves at the same time. So what’s the solution? “It’s easy,” says Shively, grinning. “You install a seat with a roll cage on the roof, move the control elements up to the roof, stick a stuntman in there, and have them do their work from up there.” Obviously, it’s not quite that simple. Especially when the stunt car is an electric vehicle. Because the Taycan is making history: It is the first electric vehicle in a Hollywood movie in which pod car technology has been used. For the action scenes, Porsche engineers and the film team had to move not only the entire instrument cluster but also the drive control, steering wheel, start button, gas pedal, brakes, dashboard, and computer technology up to the roof. Invisible from inside – but nevertheless 100 percent functional.

Maneuvering the complex vehicle from the roof was an entirely new challenge for the Spanish stunt team. Firstly, these pros had never worked with an electric sports car before. And secondly, there’s a significant shift in what you see, the center of gravity, and the feeling of control when you’re sitting more than a meter above the driver’s seat with nothing but a steel cage for protection.

The team had two months to modify and test the stunt vehicle. This even involved the port in Tenerife temporarily being closed. There were plenty of challenges, and they had to tinker with the vehicle setup night after night to realize the vision of the director. For example, by default the Taycan safety systems prevent certain maneuvers from being performed. Take the steering column, for instance. This features three magnets that all have to be aligned. If they’re not, the system knows something undesirable is happening and responds with error messages. “There was constantly something happening to the pod car in Tenerife – at least, that’s what the system thought,” explains Shively. “We had to trick the Taycan.” So, for example, the electronic steering system was replaced by a hydraulic one. In addition, the sensors were reprogrammed to make the control instruments always believe the vehicle was driving straight ahead, even when it was reversing at around 100 kmh or performing some other maneuver.

And there are plenty of maneuvers like this in the movie: In Den of Thieves 2, police officer Big Nick (Gerard Butler) is chasing the bad guys once again. The Los Angeles cop can’t accept the fact that the true mastermind of the first movie, Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), managed to elude him. Big Nick soon finds out that his adversary has joined forces with the infamous Panther Mafia, who are keeping Europe in suspense with a string of heists. The crew is planning its greatest coup to date: a robbery at the World Diamond Centre in Antwerp in Belgium. Big Nick pursues them all over Europe. But in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, the roads are a lot more winding than in Los Angeles. Meaning the car chases are a lot more dynamic.

Even the seasoned movie stars were sometimes left breathless when they found themselves just millimeters away from a 600-meter drop on the coastal roads of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Gerard Butler frequently felt uneasy, perhaps precisely because he wasn’t able to control the vehicle himself. “I thought that’s asking for trouble, when we were approaching those hairpin bends at around 90 to 130 kmh,” relates the experienced Scotsman, who has featured in more than 60 movies, “but it actually always worked out.” Scenes like those in the Taycan pod car were new to him, too. “At first, I was skeptical as to whether something like that was even possible with an electric vehicle. But I’m now an absolute fan of the Porsche Taycan.” And the tunnel scene? “That was the most amazing car chase and shoot-out I’ve ever shot or seen in a movie.”