INTERVIEW: Xavier Gens sits in the director’s chair on hit TV show ‘Gangs of London’
Photo: Gangs of London’s first season is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films / Provided by KWPR with permission.
Gangs of London, the acclaimed British TV series, is now available in the United States. Season one — or series one for those across the pond — is out on Blu-ray and DVD from RLJE Films. The series, co-created by Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery, features directing not only by Evans but also Xavier Gens, of Hitman fame, and Corrin Hardy, of The Nun fame.
On the show, which airs in the United States on AMC, warring factions face off on the streets of London in the aftermath of mob boss Finn Wallace’s death. Wallace (Colm Meaney) was a crime lord who kept things bloody, but also somewhat in order. Now that he’s out of the picture, there are many princes looking to be king. Joe Cole plays the pivotal character of Sean Wallace, who works with the Dumani family to take his spot atop his father’s throne. Also starring in Gangs of London are Sopé Dìrísù (Humans), Lucian Msamati (His Dark Materials), Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones), Paapa Essiedu (Press, Kiri) and Pippa Bennett-Warner (Harlots), according to press notes.
Gens, whose previous projects include Budapest, Cold Skin and The Crucifixion, directed three episodes in the inaugural season of the show. He is responsible for the sixth, seventh and eighth segments. “It was 2018 when Gareth approached me about the show,” Gens said in a recent Zoom interview. “We were looking to find a way to collaborate with each other on movies, but on movies you can only have one director.”
Then Evans suggested Gens for the Gangs of London project, and the director said yes without hesitation. “I will join whenever you want, so I was super happy to work with him and get that experience with him because he’s really brilliant,” Gens said. “And I think he’s a genius on what he’s doing, so I really wanted to collaborate on something. And I learned a lot by working with Gareth.”
Gens said he found it funny that his particular episodes were perhaps the bloodiest of the first season, which was a not-so-subtle nod to the director’s previous work in horror and suspense. When he began working on the project, Gens came onto the set and was accepted by the cast and company, who had already been working together for some time.
“Before you start shooting, you meet the actors, and you meet the team in prep,” he said. “So you have time to trust everybody, which is important. … You have to win their trust, but at some point when you show them exactly what you want, and you know the characters, and you have learned the characters, and you know exactly what you’re doing, actors have such good instinct. They can understand directly when you cheat and you are pushing them. The thing with actors is you don’t push actors. They know much more than you, so you have to be at the same level as them and try to understand and make [proposals] and see if they accept the [proposals].”
Gens has carved out a career working in both TV and film. He finds that both experiences are fantastic, but he appreciates the ability to dive deeper on TV projects. He values the extra time to explore characters and tell complex stories. “Basically on TV,” he said, “you can give to the audience the same experience as reading a book because you have that time.”
And more time has been allotted to this project because Gangs of London is coming back for a second set of episodes.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Gangs of London’s first season is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Click here for more information.
