After giving everyone a case of the chills because of his performance as Charlie Cullen in The Good Nurse, Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Theory of Everything, Jupiter Ascending) is ready to kill again. Redmayne will star in The Day of the Jackal series, a new project destined for Peacock and Sky. The concept is a reimagining of the 1973 film adaptation from Universal Pictures. In The Day of the Jackal, Redmayne plays the Jackal, a professional assassin hired by a French paramilitary dissident to kill French President Charles de Gaulle in 1962.
Inspired by Frederick Forsyth’s novel of the same name (and Universal’s film adaptation), the new version brings the character and story to a contemporary setting, letting our corrupt geo-political landscape loose in a world of deception, lies, cover-ups, and death. In addition to telling an intriguing tale of careful murder, The Day of the Jackal series will meditate on the concept of an anti-hero.
Ronan Bennett (Top Boy, Public Enemies, Gunpowder) will showrun and write the series, with Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones, Luther) directing. In addition to his starring role, Redmayne will executive produce alongside Carnival Films’ Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant and Sky Studios’ Sam Hoyle. Marianne Buckland serves as co-exec producer, Frederick Forsyth is consulting producer, and Christopher Hall is producing.
The Day of the Jackal series will shoot its shot on Peacock in the U.S. and Sky in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. NBCUniversal Global Distribution is negotiating international sales of the new series.
Fred Zinnemann directed 1973’s The Day of the Jackal. Edward Fox starred as the Jackal, with Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel, and Tony Britton supporting. With Bennett’s version bringing the story into the modern day, it will be fun to see what an update to the assassin thriller looks like and how today’s political climate plays with Forsyth’s characters and themes in mind.
Are you a fan of The Day of the Jackal? Are you excited about Redmayne taking on the lead role? We’ll bring you more news as this project develops.
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