Mo McRae joins Gerard Butler in the upcoming ‘Den of Thieves,’ in theaters this Friday, January 19th.
Mo McRae, known for his roles in Wild and Lee Daniels’ The Butler, plays alongside Gerard Butler, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and O’Shea Jackson in the new action film from the director Christian Gudegast. Den of Thieves follows a unit of the LA County Sheriff’s Department (led by Gerard Butler’s character) and the state’s most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a heist on the Federal Reserve Bank.
We had a chance to speak to Mo McRae about his role, working with Gerard Butler and Christian Gudegast and more. Check out the interview below:
Magdalena Bury: I loved your movie, congratulations.
Mo McRae: Thank you so much
Magdalena Bury: Can you tell me what you loved most about this script?
Mo McRae: What I did love most about the script? Ahh that’s a great question. I loved a lot about it, which is why I did the movie. But, if I had to think what I loved the most? Honestly, I’d say it’s the humanization of both sides of these two tribes that are coming to wars. And when you see both sides and what they are driven by, their flaws and they kind of have good intentions in some areas. And they’re well-developed characters, it was like people have been saying there’s no “bad guys” per se, you kind of sense that even though they do bad things, they still have some light and heart, they are not completely dark. They have love, they have fear, they have just like this loyalty that they want to maintain. So I just feel like all of the characters were just really dynamic and I think any person can identify with a character in the movie. SO I found that to be extremely interesting and I love that.
Magdalena Bury: Right. They were very multilayered, all of them. So what was something that resonated with you most about your character?
Mo McRae: Well the thing that resonated with me most about my character is that he was…to me I liked his idea like was the one that could go far and be extreme, but also just try to maintain a leveled head and keep things calm and not lose sight of the bigger picture. I think high stakes situation or emotions are running high, I feel like my character was a guy that kind of always wanted to bring it back to center.
Magdalena Bury: That was also my takeaway. He seemed like the calmest one from the whole Regulators group. Kind of on the sidelines at times. Is that something that you would say you identify within your personal life? With that calmness?
Mo McRae: Yea at times, people seem to think I’m pretty calm and then when it’s time to get intense, I can get really intense. I don’t think he ugh, for me in my personal life I don’t jump to intensity first. I’m passionate, but I do try to keep a calm energy and a calm environment so I think people do their best when they feel at ease, when you get people all frazzled, that’s when a lot of mistakes happen. I make mistakes myself, so I definitely feel like I resonate with that.
Magdalena Bury: Tell me a little bit about how it was working with the whole crew? With Gerard Butler you guys were in a lot of scenes together, you were on the same side of the law I would say. And how was that?
Mo McRae: Yea working with Gerard was nice man. He just starts clowning… *laughter* No, he honestly has become a really good friend of mine as a result of doing the guys in the Regulator crew. We got really close and our police advisor Jay Godman, he had kind of talked to us about the way it was when he was on the streets as a police officer and a guy in his unit really connected on a personal level and the way that you need to when you’re
Magdalena Bury: Oh that’s dope.
Mo McRae: We just really…yea. I have all these videos on my phone of us singing like country songs, riding on the back roads of Georgia and I’m gonna hold them and if Gerard doesn’t put me in the next movie, I’m going to release them.
Magdalena Bury: Oh yea, they have to see the light of day. They have to, I want to see that. *laughter*
Mo McRae: *laughter* Yea, so yea we got on great. We worked hard, we trained hard together, we ate dinner almost every night together. We really ugh, we got really really close on that process.
Magdalena Bury: Oh that’s great and what about Christian Gudegast? That was your first time working with him, how was it?
Mo McRae: Yea, it was my first time working with Christian Gudegast, I love him. I first met him I knew he was ughh…I just knew he was the right guy to tell this story because he grew up in LA and I grew up in LA as well. So it was very authentic. I find it you know being a person from LA when I watch something that was made by someone from somewhere else, I can tell immediately. I was concerned because I didn’t know Christian beforehand when I had read the script and I was like wow, the person that does this has to really know the nuances and the dynamics of what like is presently like in LA. I think they have seen false depictions of it and when I met Christian, he was just so passionate and excited and open and honest. He’s like a guys guy, big guys, goes to Judo, I think he tried to fight me in our first meeting is I’m not mistaken something. *Laughter*
Magdalena Bury: *Laughter* That must have been interesting.
Mo McRae: Guys guy, man man. Yea he’s an artist so it was great working with… he’s super collaborative too. Another thing about Christian, he wanted to hear and know every idea. Even if he didn’t apply it, he wanted to hear it. And if it did resonate with him, he was extremely receptive.
Magdalena Bury: That’s awesome. Can you tell me what scene was the most fun to shoot for you? There’s a lot going on in the movie, so can you pick one and tell me a little about it?
Mo McRae: Oh that’s tough. I’m might have to pick two. The big shoot out scene is the first thing that jumps in mind because we worked so hard for it with all the guns and weapon training and tactical movement stuff and so that’s just fun for the physicality of it. But, the other scenes are like just kind of hard pressed to pick. But it’s like the Benihana scene, where we all end up in the same place at the same time…
Magdalena Bury: Ahh, that was intense.
Mo McRae: …and there was like a…yea there’s so much tension in that. That’s one of those places where my character exhibited that cool head of like “ok this mixture of elements is extremely volatile and explosive” and I have to try and find a way to not to concede and make them feel like they are more powerful than we are, but still get out of the situation without my colleagues potentially being harmed. So those are my two favorite scenes for the giant shootout and then the scene when we all ended up in a restaurant together.
Magdalena Bury: Yes, they were full of tension. Thank you so much and congratulations on the movie again.
Mo McRae: Thank you