As many cinephiles already know, the 1970s was a fantastic time for paranoid political thrillers (“The Parallax View,” “All The President’s Men”), assassin movies (“The American Friend”), and films based on the rising tide of terrorism (“Black Sunday”; in fact we devoted an entire feature to this genre several years ago). One film that covered all those bases and was pretty popular then was 1973’s “The Day Of The Jackal,” directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Edward Fox and Michael Lonsdale.
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Based on Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel of the same name, the film is about a professional assassin known only as the “Jackal,” who is hired to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle in the summer of 1963. And well, a new Peacock series based on the same book is on the horizon, though it does have a more modern twist on the same material.
Starring Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) as the Jackal assassin, Lashana Lynch (“No Time To Die”) co-stars as a British Intelligence officer on his tail. The series centers on the manhunt that takes place for this dangerous and elusive assassin.
Written by Ronan Bennett (Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies”) who is also an executive producer, the series is directed by Brian Kirk, known for directing epsiodes of “Game of Thrones,” FX’s “The Riches” and Showtime’s “Brotherhood” and “The Tudors.”
Also starring in the series is Úrsula Corberó, Charles Dance, Richard Dormer, Chukwudi Iwuji, Lia Williams, Khalid Abdalla, Eleanor Matsuura, Jonjo O’Neill, Nick Blood, Sule Rimi and Florisa Kamara.
Here’s the official synopsis:
An unrivaled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal (Eddie Redmayne), makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer () who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.
“The Day of the Jackal” premieres on Peacock on Thursday, November 14, 2024, with the first five episodes. The series will then continue with weekly episodes and a double-episode finale on Thursday, December 12, 2024. Watch the new trailer below.