Eddie Redmayne’s two-word response to James Bond comparisons in 70s reboot

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

In his brand new show, which is launching next month on Sky, the actor takes on one of his most sinister roles yet – a professional assassin with lethal skills known by the codename Jackal.

Originally created by Frederick Forsyth in his 1971 novel of the same name, the Jackal was notably portrayed in the 1973 film adaptation by Edward Fox, which is widely regarded as one of the greatest political thrillers in cinema.

Last night, Metro attended the London premiere of the latest iteration of The Day of the Jackal, speaking to several stars including Eddie, who not only leads the cast as the chameleonic killer, but is also an executive producer on the project.

When the trailer for the drama was released, several people instantly drew parallels between the Jackal and James Bond, after seeing Eddie’s bulked-up physique and witnessing him in action as a deadly sniper.

The 42-year-old told us that while he’s ‘flattered’ to be mentioned alongside 007 – who will soon be played by a new actor after Daniel Craig’s departure – it’s not a role that he would personally consider.

The first look at Eddie as a lethal sniper assassin resulted in fans comparing him to 007 (Picture: Marcell Piti/Sky/Carnival)

James Bond fans are yet to find out who’ll be taking over as the MI6 spy after daniel Craig’s departure (Picture: Col Pics/Everett/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

The My Week with Marilyn star looked suave at the premiere in a light grey suit (Picture: Mike Marsland/WireImage)

‘Whenever anyone brings out the James Bond thing, it’s deeply flattering, but I love watching the Bond movies, and I don’t want to see me in the Bond movies,’ he said.

‘I want to see someone else in the Bond movies,’ the actor added.

Eddie continued, explaining how he grew up with the tales of the Jackal, feeling inspired by the performance that Edward gave in the 1973 movie.

‘I grew up on this. I grew up on the original Day of the Jackal, Edward Fox,’ he stated.

‘There was a kind of like casual, ruthless, debonair quality to him, the kind of peacocking thing that I loved, and also the shape-shifting quality that kind of defines him as a character. So I feel pretty thrilled to have got to play this guy.’

Eddie explained how he ‘grew up’ with the original tale of The Day of the Jackal (Picture: Marcell Piti/Sky/Carnival)

The actor was inspired by the ‘debonair’ quality that Edward brought to the Jackal in the 1973 film (Picture: Screen Archives/Getty Images)

Ronan Bennett, who penned the screenplay for the latest Day of the Jackal TV adaptation, outlined how in his view, one of the biggest differences between the show and James Bond is the fact that the latter is ‘escapism’.

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

‘What I’ve tried to do here, and what I think Eddie has excelled in, has been portraying a real person with a real hinterland, a real backstory, and keeping the character grounded in a reality.

‘Bond is escapism, and this has thrilling elements and all the rest of it, but it’s grounded in reality. So that I would say would be the difference. Eddie would be a great Bond, I’ve got no doubt.’

Executive producers Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant admitted that initially, they were reluctant to adapt The Day of the Jackal for a modern audience, because of how revered the original novel and the 1970s film adaptation are to this day.

Eddie stars in The Day of the Jackal with No Time To Die actress Lashana Lynch, who plays MI6 agent Bianca in the new series (Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Money Heist actress Úrsula Corberó appears in the drama as Nuria, a character with a personal connection to the Jackal (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)

Addressing the James Bond comparisons, Gareth added: ‘I don’t think we think that the show is very James Bond-ish, it isn’t really.

‘I mean, I can see it might look a bit like that in a short trailer, but I think viewers will see that it’s quite different from that. That said, there probably are other movie franchises there that it resembles a bit more, maybe.’

Nigel emphasised how ‘meticulous’ Eddie is as an actor, doing ‘a huge amount of homework’ to ‘learn languages, body movement’ and to transform using a hefty amount of prosthetics when the Jackal dons his various disguises.

‘So he was the perfect Jackal for us,’ he summarised.

MI6 agent Bianca is determined to track the Jackal down in the contemporary telling of the story (Picture: Marcell Piti/Sky/Carnival)

Not only is the Jackal a deadly killer, but he’s also a master of disguise (Picture: Marcell Piti/Sky/Carnival)

Gareth continued: ‘I actually think what we see in the finished work is really every everything we’d hoped that Eddie would be, a chameleon. There’s lots of disguises, there’s lots of language work, different languages, the disguises, prosthetics, it’s a very physical performance.

‘So all the things that we hoped he would just deliver really well, he absolutely has done.’

The original novel, The Day of the Jackal, centred around the titular character being contracted to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, the President of France who was in office for a decade until 1969.

In this latest contemporary telling of the story, Eddie’s Jackal has been offered an extraordinarily high fee to carry out a hit, but MI6 agent Bianca (Lashana Lynch) is hot on his tracks, chasing down every lead she can find to try and uncover his identity.

The Day of the Jackal launches on Thursday, November 7 on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

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