Xavier Gens

Xavier Gens (French: [ɡzavje ʒɑ̃s]; born on (1975-04-27)27 April 1975) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer.^[1]

Xavier Gens
Gens at the Teatro Victoria Eugenia in 2011
Born	(1975-04-27) 27 April 1975 (age 50) Dunkirk, France
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1996–present

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 film La 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]

On television, he has directed episodes of Crossing Lines (2014), Gangs of London (2020),^[13] Mortel (2021) and Lupin (2023).^[14]

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]

Filmography

Short films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
2000	BTK – Born to Kast	Yes	Yes	[18]
2005	Au petit matin	Yes	Yes
2006	Sable noir	Yes	Yes
2012	X Is for XXL	Yes	No	Segment of The ABCs of Death

Feature films

Year	Title	Director	Writer
2007	Frontier(s)	Yes	Yes
	Hitman	Yes	No
2011	The Divide	Yes	No
2017	Cold Skin	Yes	No
	The Crucifixion	Yes	No
	Budapest	Yes	No
2023	Farang	Yes	Yes
2024	Under Paris	Yes	Yes

Acting roles

• Le Bon, la Brute et les Zombies (2004)
• Lady Blood (2008)
• La Horde (2009, voice only)

Television

Year	Title	Notes
2006	Sable noir	Episode "Fotografik"
2014	Crossing Lines	3 episodes
2020	Gangs of London	3 episodes
2021	Mortel	3 episodes
2023	Lupin	3 episodes

Other credits

Year	Title	Role
1996	Maximum Risk	Production assistant
	Never Ever
1997	Double Team
	Madame Jacques sur la Croisette
	Le Bossu	Production manager
	Les Kidnappeurs
1999	The Secret Laughter of Women	Production assistant
2000	30 Ans	Casting director
	Cramps	Production assistant
2009	La Horde
2016	Cell