The true story behind The Day of the Jackal as thriller hits screens

by · Mail Online

Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch's highly-anticipated new thriller series The Day Of The Jackal premiered on Sky on Thursday, to the delight of fans - and it's reportedly the broadcaster's 'most expensive series ever'.

The Jackal (Eddie) is an elusive assassin who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. 

But he soon meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence offer (Lashana) who tracks him down in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe.

Industry insiders say the budget for the series is set at a whopping £100million, with Oscar-winner Eddie bagging £10million overall for his role as the titular character, according to The Mirror.

However, most fans won't know the partially true story behind the nail-biting reboot, based on Frederick Forsyth's 1971 book of the same name.

Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch 's highly-anticipated new thriller series The Day Of The Jackal premiered on Sky on Thursday
It is reportedly the broadcaster's 'most expensive series ever' with a whopping budget of £100million

The book the 10-part series is based on made comment on the political environment at the time of writing.

Eddie's character The Jackal is professional assassin who gets contracted by the OAS (Organisation armée secrete), which translates to 'secret army organisation' and was actually a real group.

In the original novel, the dissident parliamentary group planned to assassinate the President of France at the time - Charles de Gaulle, which is also a real plot that unfolded.

The group's motive was to stop Algeria from becoming independent from French rule, which was something the President was planning a referendum on in 1961. 

In the book, their initial attempts to assassinate him were based on real life, however, everything that follows is fictional. 

The series is being made by Carnival Films and was commissioned by Sky Studios, who will then air the anticipated series across the UK and much of Europe, as well as US streaming service Peacock.

The Mirror also reports that the huge wage Eddie earned was the 'highest ever paid to a star', but that is now becoming the 'norm' when big money companies such as Netflix, Apple and in this case Peacock, are involved.

A source said: 'Many TV companies and broadcasters are struggling with budgets being squeezed but not with high-end drama for a global audience involving the streamers.

The Jackal (Eddie) is an elusive assassin who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee
Eddie's character gets contracted by the OAS (Organisation armée secrete), which translates to 'secret army organisation' and was actually a real group
In the book, their initial attempts to assassinate him were based on real life, however, everything that follows is fictional

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Lashana Lynch hides her baby bump as she joins Eddie Redmayne at The Day Of The Jackal screening

'If you can do a deal with one of them, you can absolutely break the bank.'

MailOnline have contacted representatives of Eddie for comment.

Also starring are Guardians Of The Galaxy's Chukwudi Iwuji, Game Of Thrones' Charles Dance, and Money Heist's Ursula Corbero.

It was adapted for the small screen by Ronan Bennett, the creator and writer of the critically acclaimed English crime drama Top Boy.

The Day Of The Jackal was directed by Brian Kirk whose credits include Game Of Thrones and Luther.

The series is produced by Carnival Films, which is part of Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Eddie serves as an executive producer, Lashana as a co-executive producer, and author Frederick as the consulting producer.

Fellow executive producers Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant, who both worked on Downton Abbey, spoke to GQ about the project.

Eddie serves as an executive producer, Lashana as a co-executive producer, and author Frederick as the consulting producer

Gareth said: 'We both loved the book, and we saw the film when we were kids — I’ve seen the film many times through my life, and always really respected it.'

While they were at first cautious to tackle source material that carries with it such esteem, to expand the story across episodic TV seemed too good an opportunity to turn down.

'It’s such an iconic, gripping story, that to revisit that in a contemporary context, with all the benefits of a multi-episodic show … we thought that would be really interesting to take this much-respected IP and develop it this way.'

Nigel agreed: 'I think that [this] kind of title is in so many people's consciousness … And then yeah, what’s the benefit of telling this with a bigger canvas?'

Answering the main question of why the series is set in the 2020s as opposed to the '60s of the book and the film, Gareth simply said: 'If we’d stayed in the past, why do it? You can’t better the film.'

The Day of the Jackal premieres on Sky Atlantic and Now TV on Thursday 7 November