Eddie Redmayne Takes On Pointed-Shooting, Producing Duties for Up-to-date Series ‘The Day of the Jackal’

“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.”