Eddie Redmayne’s reaction to James Bond comparisons in the ’70s reboot

Eddie Redmayne has responded to the comparisons fans have made between James Bond and his character in his gripping new TV series The Day of the Jackal.

In his brand new show, which starts on Sky next month, the actor takes on one of his scariest roles yet – a professional assassin with deadly skills known by the codename Jackal.

The Jackal was originally created by Frederick Forsyth in his 1971 novel of the same name and was notably portrayed in Edward Fox’s 1973 film adaptation, widely considered one of the greatest political thrillers in cinema history.

Last night, metro attended the London premiere of the latest episode of The Day of the Jackal and spoke to several stars, including Eddie, who not only leads the cast as the chameleon killer but is also an executive producer on the project.

When the trailer for the drama was released, several people immediately drew parallels between the Jackal and James Bond after seeing Eddie’s massive body and seeing him in action as a deadly sniper.

The 42-year-old told Us that while he was “flattered” to be mentioned alongside 007 – who will soon be played by a new actor following Daniel Craig’s departure – he would not personally consider the role.

“Whenever someone brings up the James Bond thing it’s deeply flattering, but I love watching the Bond films and I don’t want to see myself in the Bond films,” he said.

“I want to see someone else in the Bond films,” the actor added.

Eddie continued, explaining how he grew up with the stories of the Jackal and felt inspired by the performance given by Edward in the 1973 film.

“I grew up with it. “I grew up on the original Day of the Jackal, Edward Fox,” he said.

“There was something casual and reckless and debonair about him, the kind of peacock quality that I loved, and also the shape-shifting quality that kind of defines him as a character. So I’m pretty excited to get to play this guy.”

Ronan Bennett, who wrote the screenplay for the latest TV adaptation of Day of the Jackal, explained that he believes one of the biggest differences between the series and James Bond is that the latter is about “escapism.”

“We all love Bond, but it’s worse.” “It’s not really real,” said the 68-year-old.

“What I tried to do here, and what I think Eddie did brilliantly, is portray a real person with a real hinterland, a real backstory, and ground the character in reality.”

“Bond is escapism, and it has elements of suspense and everything else, but it’s based in reality.” So I would say that would be the difference. “Eddie would be a great Bond, I have no doubt about that.”

Executive producers Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant admitted they were initially hesitant to adapt The Day of the Jackal for a modern audience because the original 1970s novel and film adaptation are still so well-regarded today.

On the James Bond comparisons, Gareth added: “I don’t think we think the show is very James Bond-esque, it’s not really.”

“I mean, I can imagine it might look a little bit like that in a short trailer, but I think viewers will see that it’s very different.” However, there are probably other film franchises out there too maybe a little more similar.”

Nigel highlighted how “meticulous” Eddie is as an actor, doing “a lot of homework” to “learn languages ​​and body movements” and transforming himself using numerous prosthetics when the Jackal dons his various disguises.

“So he was the perfect jackal for us,” he concluded.

Gareth continued: “I actually think what we see in the finished work is really exactly what we expected Eddie to be: a chameleon.” There’s a lot of disguises, there’s a lot of voice work, different languages, the disguises , prosthetics, it is a very physical achievement.

“All the things we were hoping he would do really well, he absolutely did.”

The original novel The Day of the Jackal centered on the title character, who was tasked with assassinating Charles de Gaulle, the president of France who served for a decade until 1969.

In this latest contemporary take on the story, Eddie’s Jackal has been offered an extraordinarily high fee to carry out an attack, but MI6 agent Bianca (Lashana Lynch) is on his trail, pursuing every lead she can to uncover his identity .

Day of the Jackal starts on Thursday November 7th on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

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