50 Cent Used His Experience Getting Shot for ‘Den of Thieves’
50 Cent famously worked alongside Gerard Butler in the heist movie Den of Thieves. But he ended up in a slight disagreement with the film’s director when it came to one particular scene involving the rapper getting shot.
50 Cent didn’t need to be told how to act getting shot
50 Cent added more action films to his resume when he did Den of Thieves. By then, the rapper had become a bit of an acting veteran in his own right. He’d been building up his portfolio with features like Righteous Kill, Streets of Blood, and Southpaw. After working with so many directors, 50 Cent learned that he worked best with filmmakers who were a bit more specific in their instructions and leadership.
“I like for them to know what they’re asking me to do! Sometimes, the director will give the actors notes, but they won’t be as informative or clear as we’d like. If they’d like you to make an adjustment, that’s fine. But I like them to know exactly what kind of adjustment they’d like,” 50 Cent once said in an interview with The Movie Waffler.
However, he did mind when Den of Thieves filmmaker Christian Gudegast tried to direct his acting in a familiar scenario. 50 Cent played Enson Levoux in the movie, who was a retired military veteran turning to a life of crime. So on the surface, the actor had very little in common with the character he was portraying. But when one scene in the movie called for Enson to be shot, Gudegast took issue with how he was performing the take in question. But 50 Cent reassured Gudegast that he needed very little direction for the scene. Especially after getting shot nine times.
“There’s a point where I get shot in the film and Christian was like, “No, you didn’t do that the right way.” I said, ‘Trust me, I know what I’m doing,’” he once told Front Row Features.
50 Cent once shared what it really felt like getting shot
According to 50 Cent, getting shot in real-life was much less sensational than getting shot in Den of Thieves. Speaking with Oprah, he recalled that he’d gotten shot by his old home at Queens. But the “21 Questions” singer clarified that he didn’t feel much physical pain.
“It doesn’t hurt as much as people imagine it hurts because of your adrenaline and how the shock of what’s actually going on. It hurts after,” he explained.
Instead, the emotional toll was what the rapper really had a challenging time recovering from. His assailants were still out there at the time, which only made the rapper more on edge.
“In the recovery process, I got tired of being afraid. And then the only way that I could…like, to cover those emotions, was to be a little more aggressive,” he said.
How 50 Cent related to his ‘Den of Thieves’ character
50 Cent had a completely different lifestyle than his Den of Thieves counterpart Enson. The Power creator, who got his name from the streets, is no stranger to criminal activity. He was once even banned from Canada for his rap sheet. But he never committed the kinds of high-profile crimes that his character did. Still, it was the three-dimensional way Enson was written that drew 50 Cent to the role.
“In this film, it’s more about the vulnerability of the characters. For instance, I have five kids in the film and I’m married and I looked at it like I am a man hiding myself in plain sight. They’ll never think that the guy who has five kids is then setting off explosives in the bank,” he once said in an interview with Flavour Mag.
The Massacre artist also admitted that he found Enson a bit relatable. Not just to him, however. He felt Enson had enough depth for many viewers to find something about the character to attach themselves to.
“I could understand him,” he said. “I think people can see themselves in characters when there’s something relatable about them. They can forgive him for the things he’s doing. If there’s a female that you love enough to want to protect in your life, then you can identify with my character who has a teenage daughter who is at a place in her life where I’m not cool anymore. She’s 16 and her social circle is developing and what I say to her doesn’t matter.”
