Eddie Redmayne Takes On Sharp-Shooting, Producing Duties for New Series ‘The Day of the Jackal’

Eddie Redmayne has joined the ranks of stone-cold fictional assassins.

The actor—who worked with a veteran military expert and a real-life sniper, learned some Spanish and German, and was taught how to apply prosthetics in preparation for the complex role—is curious about how audiences will react to his frequently disguised, morally gray character.

“There’s a sociopathic quality to him,” the actor said of the highly skilled lone wolf he plays in The Day of the Jackal, speaking during a Vanity Fair–hosted event for the series on Wednesday night. “One of the things that really thrilled me is that he’s basically an actor, and so in some ways, [wearing] the prosthetics, learning new languages—that’s the stuff we love. The whole series, in many ways, felt like an actor’s playground.”

Peacock’s 10-episode reimagining of the classic novel and film follows both an elite assassin (Redmayne) as he carries out increasingly difficult murder missions and the determined MI6 agent, Bianca (Lashana Lynch), who’s trying to stop him. The Day of the Jackal marks the actor’s return to television and his first producer credit, which he shares with costar Lynch.

“The series is made with great love and affection for the original. Because I grew up loving the film and watched it for so many years, when it arrived in my inbox, there was definitely this trepidation. But because it was set now, it felt like a different piece,” Redmayne told the audience during a discussion hosted by Vanity Fair’s Anthony Breznican following a screening of the first episode. “What I love in the update is, you have the Jackal and Bianca, both of whom are ferociously talented, obsessive, meticulous about their jobs, but have these questionable morals. I love this idea of audiences oscillating in their affections and going, I’m repelled by this person, yet I’m kind of intrigued by them.”

The Oscar winner said that although he and the Marvels star don’t share much screen time, they spent a lot of time together as first-time producers, talking on the phone and over Zoom.

“Lashana and I met in the gym about two months before filming started, and that was virtually the only time we physically saw each other for, I’ll say, five months,” he said. “Our friendship was forged over the producer side. It’s been amazing getting to work with her, particularly in postproduction. Her facility for music, her attention to detail—and I joke that they cast the right people for borderline-obsessive characters. We were in the weeds in a really lovely way.”

Lynch previously told VF that after wrapping her extremely physical role in The Woman King, she welcomed an opportunity to do a “kitchen-sink drama that would challenge my brain but wouldn’t challenge my body in the way The Woman King did.”

The Day of the Jackal is inspired by Frederick Forsyth’s best-selling 1971 novel and the acclaimed 1973 film adaptation directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Edward Fox. It is written and produced by Ronan Bennett (Top Boy), whom executive producers Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant (Downton Abbey, The Last Kingdom) recruited to give the story a modern spin. Set in the present day, the reimagining of the cat-and-mouse-style thriller pays homage to the source material in several clever and specific ways.

“What we tried to do from the original is bring many elements, Easter eggs, and direct lines from the book,” said Redmayne. “And in a later episode, there’s actually a shot-by-shot recreation of one of the iconic scenes from the original film.”

The first five episodes of The Day of the Jackal will be available to stream on Peacock on November 14.