Hitman: how Xavier Gens lost control of his film

The action film with Timothy Olyphant and Olga Kurylenko returns to NRJ12.

If the famous Agent 47 from the action video games from Eidos and IO Interactive returned in 2015 in the guise of Rupert Friendin an opus far from unleashing the crowds, NRJ12 will offer to rediscover this evening the first adventures of the barcode spy with the Hitman directed by Xavier Gens (Border(s), Under the Seine…), in 2007.

Hitman: Agent 47 is a remake of Terminator 2 written by Jean-Paul Sartre

In the skin of the hitman adept at the silencer and the piano wire, we find the actor Timothy Olyphantthe star of Deadwoodwhich has since rebounded thanks to Santa Clarita Diet Or Once Upon a Time… in Hollywoodby Quentin Tarantino. Facing him, the Franco-Ukrainian Olga Kurylenkowho had signed just before starring in another video game adaptation on the big screen: Max Payne.

Despite a very mediocre critical reception, the film was, contrary to what one might believe today, a financial success, obtaining 100 million dollars in revenue, or quadruple its initial budget. And this without ever seeing a sequel, however, until the reboot of the franchise 8 years later.

It must be said that this Hitman comes from a long way away, finding himself confronted with multiple unforeseen events and creative problems. In the end, Xavier Gensin conflict with his producers, gradually saw his own film slip away from him.

Hitman is originally the project of a particular man, who wants to bring the story of Agent 47 to the big screen: Vin Diesel. The franchise actor Fast and Furious joined forces with 20th Century Fox to acquire the rights to adapt the game in 2003, which he was originally to produce while playing the main role. In December 2006 and three years of preparing the script in the hands of Skip Woods, Vin Diesel announces that he is abandoning the idea of ​​playing Agent 47. However, he will remain executive producer.

At that time, the actor Timothy Olyphant is chosen to replace him, while entrusting the realization of the project to Xavier Gensin part thanks to the co-production of the film by Luc Besson and EuropaCorp. After a well-conducted casting where Olyphant and Kurylenko will be joined by Dougray Scott And Robert Knepper among other things, filming took place smoothly between March and June 2017 between Bulgaria, England, Russia, Turkey and South Africa.

It was subsequently that the project Hitman starts to get stuck. Fox is not at all happy with what Gens was made, which nonetheless strives to respect the studio's wishes while it was considering a film with a more emphatic pace, inspired by John McTiernan notably. Too long, too violent, edited out of order compared to Woods' script, Fox regained control of the editing and gradually removed Gens from the project.

The film was then reassembled as it was initially supposed to be and toned down some of its violence. Its theatrical release was postponed for several months while numerous reshoots were carried out under the direction of Nicolas de Toth. Among the studio's most controversial choices, that of modifying the origins of Agent 47 to make it a “simple orphan”. And to do this, Fox does not hesitate to recycle images from the series Dark Angel, of which she is also a producer, to save a few thousand dollars.

It is therefore this redacted and remodeled version which was released in theaters. If the public was there, the fans had a lot more difficulty with this version which strayed too far from the games. As for Xavier Gensif he assures with hindsight that he does not have too many regrets from the experience, he would have missed the director of the spin-off on Wolverine because of this unfortunate experience…

Hitman also offers a little nod to the original games by entrusting David Bateson, the official voice actor of Agent 47, with the voice-over of this Hitman on the big screen.

The story of Hitman : Agent 47 is a professional killer trained to kill since childhood. He is known by the largest criminal organizations in the world for his seriousness. He never made a mistake. He has also built his reputation on extreme attention to detail, which allows him to operate with the greatest discretion each time. But when Interpol moves to intercept him, he must change his plans. Especially since the Russian secret services have also decided to neutralize him. However, Agent 47 does not intend to let himself be discredited. Forced to go against his usual methods, he will show that nothing can prevent him from carrying out his contracts…

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