Mayhem! (2024) | Xavier Gens

[BluBonnet]

IFC Films Acquires Xavier Gens’ ‘Mayhem!’ From Studiocanal: ’It’s Winking at ‘The Raid’ and ‘Taken’

IFC Films has acquired Xavier Gens’ action spectacle “Mayhem!” (“Farang”) from Studiocanal ahead of its premiere at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival.

Produced by Vincent Roget (Same Player) and Dimitri Stephanides (WTFilms), “Mayhem!” will be released in 2024.

“Xavier Gens has crafted an energetic and propulsive film, showcasing some of the most impressive fight choreography we have ever seen,” said Scott Shooman, head of AMC Networks’ Film Group.

“While winking at films like ‘The Raid’ and ‘Taken,’ Xavier has made a film which stands on its own as an iconic new member of the hand-to-hand action canon. We are thrilled to be working with the immensely talented team to bring this riveting story to theaters,” he added.

Shot in France and Thailand, “Mayhem!” stars Nassim Lyes as Sam. When he gets out of prison, he finds it difficult to escape the reach of a local gang lord. He heads to Thailand, but searching for a kidnapped family member brings him square into the bullseye of the underbelly he was trying to escape.

“Sam possesses exceptional boxing skills and uses them to earn a living and rationalize his survival in prison. However, what truly matters to him is his ability to emerge as a virtuous individual. He yearns to embody the roles of a devoted husband and a loving father,” Gens told Variety.

“Unfortunately, life has a way of snatching these aspirations away from him. It’s an exploration of someone battling to change their life and seize a different destiny. This profound desire to achieve personal redemption gives this narrative a deep and relatable quality,” he added.

Lyes was already spotted in Prime Video’s “Overdose,” directed by Olivier Marchal, and will be featured in the upcoming season of “Julia” about Julia Child.

Olivier Gourmet, Loryn Nounay, Vithaya Pansringarm and Sahajak Boonthanakit are also among the cast. Magali Rossitto, Guillaume Lemans and Gens wrote the script.

“I devoted a considerable amount of time engaging in conversations with authentic prisoners, contemplating the changes they would make if granted a second chance. The prevailing themes that emerged from these discussions revolved around the significance of family, the pursuit of redemption and the inherent pull towards ill-fated choices,” added the director.

“Interestingly, the desire to start afresh or embark on a new life in a foreign land, such as Thailand, also held its allure.”

Gens’ “Gangs of London” collaborator and second unit director Jude Poyer, helped him shape action scenes.

“We would always focus on the emotions driving the action,” he observes. Adding that the delicate “equilibrium between action, violence and emotion” was always on their minds.