21/38
The Jackal is an elusive assassin who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. He soon meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who tracks him down in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe.. Check out our list of renewals and cancellations to see if your favorite show made the cut.. Forsyth was working as a freelance journalist covering the Biafran War. When it ended he returned to Britain, unemployed and unsure what to do next.He said: 'I came back Christmas '69, thoroughly skint. I don’t have a likelihood of a job, don’t have an apartment, don’t have a car and don’t have any savings. Then I had this crazy, crazy idea to write a novel. 'Everybody said you must be joking or mad because the chances of even getting it published are hundreds to one, even thousands.' Within weeks of publication, the film rights were snapped up. Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars battled to play the Jackal in the 1973 film but the role went to the then unknown Edward Fox because director Fred Zinnemann thought he could pass invisibly in a crowd. (Air Mail). Referenced in The Graham Norton Show: Denzel Washington/Paul Mescal/Saoirse Ronan/Eddie Redmayne/Blossoms (2024). I must agree with many other reviewers, this is a great production with good atmosphere and Eddie Redmayne does a great job in the lead role as the Jackal but the female lead just ruins the whole thing. It’s a total miscast using an actor who, can’t show any facial emotion regardless of the situation and who almost approaches overacting possibly in an effort to make up for the lack of understanding or appreciating the character. The character is obviously meant to be confident and experienced but it’s portrayal is one of a cocky 'I know best' woman who for one, has no appreciation of evidence walking the suitcase through the general office. She’s just so irritating and unbelievable.
