Xavier Gens (French:[ɡzavjeʒɑ̃s]; born on (1975-04-27)27 April 1975) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer.[1]
Career
Gens directed three short films in his native language, BTK – Born to Kast (2000), Au petit matin (2005) and Sable noir (2006), before being hired by 20th Century Fox to direct his debut English-language film, Hitman (2007). The same year, he directed his first French-language feature, Frontier(s).[2][3]
In October 2007, a few weeks before the film's release, reports came in that Fox had turned down the version that Gens submitted to them. Nicolas de Toth was brought in to edit the film for commercial purposes and the studio ordered reshoots.[4] While the studio denied claims that Gens had been fired due to the extreme violence in his cut, and insisted that he was still on the project, some reports stated that Gens was not even in the country as these reshoots were being made.[5] Despite being critically panned,[6]Hitman was a success with a gross of $92 million, Gens' most successful film.[7]
He narrated and produced the French zombie filmLa Horde,[8] directed by Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher.[9] The film was released in 2009 and distributed by IFC Films.[10] Gens directed The Divide (initially titled The Fallout), his second English-language film,[11] which features Michael Biehn in the lead role.[12]
In 2024, his Netflix shark-themed film, Under Paris,[15] became what was described as "the popcorn film of the summer".[16] The same year, alongside Vincent Roget and Eric Lavaine's banner Sameplayer, Gens launched a new production company called Good Players.[17]
