Brit star as a jackal

Redmayne dressed at Kniže on Vienna’s Graben

The 42-year-old Brit raves about Viennese menswear designer Kniže.

(Bild: © 2023 Carnival Film & Television Limited)

Eddie Redmayne slips into the role of the Jackal, the legendary contract killer from Frederick Forsyth's 1971 bestseller and Fred Zinnemann's great film adaptation, in the ten-part "The Day of the Jackal". Vienna also plays a part, but you might not recognize it straight away, says the Brit.

In the very first episode of "The Day of the Jackal", a 65-year-old German janitor disguised as Eddie Redmayne abseils down a glass façade hundreds of meters long like in a James Bond film. Of course, the Hollywood actor was doubled by a stuntman, and Munich, where the series begins, also had a double: the rather spectacular scene was filmed last summer in Vienna's 22nd district, Donaustadt.

Impressed by the Viennese set designer
"Interestingly, Vienna doesn't look like Vienna here," said Redmayne in an interview with APA. Some of the costumes also come from the Austrian capital. In preparation, the actor was taken to the venerable men's outfitter Kniže on Vienna's Graben to get that "European feeling", he says. "These tailors already dressed Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Laurence Olivier," the 42-year-old Brit was impressed. Indeed, many prominent artists were among the customers. And yet, he says, it is "the first time in 25 years" that he has been allowed to wear contemporary clothing in a role. "I was stuck in tweed and stiff collars," laughs the Oscar winner, known for films such as "The Discovery of Infinity" (2014) and "The Danish Girl" (2015).

In the series, however, the star not only appears in fine suits ...

(Bild: © 2023 Carnival Film & Television Limited)

He co-produced the ten-part thriller. "The Day of the Jackal" is based on Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel of the same name (who acted as consulting producer), which Fred Zinnemann filmed just two years later with Edward Fox in the lead role. With a high level of detail and in a quasi-documentary style, the film by the Austrian Hollywood directoroutliner depicted the race between a contract killer who was planning to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle and the state investigative apparatus that was hot on his heels.

"The Day of the Jackal" is a ten-part series.

(Bild: © 2023 Carnival Film & Television Limited)

Intended as a love letter to the original
The new series, written by Ronan Bennett ("Top Boy") and directed by Brian Kirk ("Game of Thrones"), is intended to be a love letter to the original, but it is also an update of it and brings the plot into the present day. The target this time isn't a politician, but a powerful entrepreneurial figure (played by Khalid Abdalla) who wants to bring a new technology to market that would pretty much strip the world's rich bare. There are right-wing radicals, high-tech and megalomaniacal social media gurus. Also new: a London secret service investigator, played with aplomb by Lashana Lynch ("No Time to Die").

Role a gift for Redmayne
In the original, the Jackal was basically a ghost. This time we learn more about his private life, and Redmayne's version has more in common with Tom Cruise's Agent Ethan Hunt in the "Mission: Impossible" films. He assumes several identities, speaks several languages and abseils from skyscrapers. A gift for Redmayne: "For me, one of the biggest thrills was that it felt like it crossed over into so many different genres. There's the thrill of the chase. Then there are the disguises and identity changes - which is every actor's dream. And there are two deeply human love stories. That makes it different kinds of movies."