Xavier Gens to Direct a Comedy Crime Caper

Director Xavier Gens made a big splash in the genre pool with the very impressive and hard-edged Frontière(s) before tangling with Hollywood on the ill-fated Hitman and then delivering the apocalyptic (and divisive) The Divide.

Now he's set to make a "comedy crime caper," as ScreenDaily describes it, a change of pace that will see Gens move into lighter territory that should still be stamped with his sharp-edged sensibility. The film is provisionally titled Les Authentiques and, according to the article, "is based on the true story of a bunch of petty criminals, who stole paintings by Camille Corot and Monet in the 1980s and then sold them to the Japanese Yakuza. When the Japanese Mafia failed to pay up fully, the gang flew to Tokyo and robbed a bank truck to make up the shortfall." The setting will be updated to the modern day.

Gens says he is taking inspiration from British crime flicks, such as 1969's The Italian Job and Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Shooting is scheduled to start in Spring 2013 in Europe and Asia.

While I was not a fan of The Divide, Gens is obviously a very talented filmmaker, so I look forward to seeing what he will produce with this kind of approach and source material.