Eddie Redmayne: ‘I still can’t believe I get paid to do this’

Eddie Redmayne, 42, grew up with the Jackal, the hitman created by British novelist Frederick Forsyth, who was brought to the big screen by Fred Zinnemann in 1973. That film was one of his favorites as a child. So, when the scripts for the first three episodes of the series reviving the Jackal landed in his inbox, he was a little apprehensive. “You don’t want to butcher something that you adore,” he admits. But the version penned by Irish screenwriter Ronan Bennett won him over. “I just wanted to keep turning the page. I wanted to see what happened next. It’s the kind of television that I love to watch. I also thought it would be interesting to play an enigma that is unpacked over the course of 10 hours,” Redmayne shared in an interview with EL PAÍS on Wednesday at a hotel in Madrid.

With The Day of the Jackal, which SkyShowtime premieres on Friday, December 6, Redmayne — who won an Oscar in 2015 for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything — returns to television, a medium he last explored more than a decade ago in British miniseries such as The Pillars of the Earth and Birdsong. In this series — which has already renewed for a second season — he plays a chameleon-like and elusive hitman who engages in a peculiar game of cat and mouse with a British MI6 agent determined to hunt him down at any cost.

“The Jackal is sort of an actor in the sense that he changes the way he looks, the way he sounds, the way he moves,” explains Redmayne. “He is passionate about what he does, he is dedicated in a way that I think lots of actors are. I related to many of those qualities, more so than with any part I’ve ever played. Normally, when I play a part, I reach out for the character. This time, it was the other way around — I brought the character close to myself.”

The actor doesn’t hide the fact that preparing to play a killer was both thrilling and a lot of fun. He worked closely with Paul Biddiss, a former soldier turned film and TV advisor. Together, they visited Bisley, the largest shooting training camp in the U.K., where Biddiss taught him how to shoot from one mile away, and the mathematical and physical principles that must be taken into account.

“He also taught me how to track people using car mirrors, shop window reflections... We went to Covent Garden, in central London, and he would send me WhatsApp messages about people I had to follow. Then he would send me photos of people who were following me. I thought I was doing quite well and being discreet, until I was asked for a selfie by a tourist from China. Then I realized I wasn’t perhaps as good as I thought,” says the actor.

In the original story, the assassin is on a mission to kill then-French president Charles de Gaulle, while a professional detective tries to identify and stop him. The new series retains these elements but diverges from the original story, making some key changes to the characters. For instance, Bianca Pullman, played by Lashana Lynch, is not an entirely flawless character; she uses questionable methods in her pursuit. In this version, the target is a multimillionaire connected to the world of technology, reminiscent of someone like Elon Musk.

“In the original book and movie, the Jackal is the antagonist, the baddie, whereas the detective and De Gaulle represent good. What I find interesting about this update is that every character operates within a gray moral code. With Bianca, you see the moral leaps she takes to accomplish her mission, often resulting in collateral damage. Even the target, a tech mogul, claims to be calling for transparency, which seems interesting, but there’s also a megalomania in him that makes you question his motives. Instead of everything being black and white, there is a lot more gray in this adaptation,” the actor explains.

When the Jackal is not on one of his missions, he seeks refuge in his sprawling house in the Spanish city of Cádiz, where his wife, played by Úrsula Corberó with an Andalusian accent, awaits him. Redmayne only has praise for her performance: “She is extraordinary — such an instinctive actress. She has brought her vibrancy, intelligence, and passion to a character that was flatter on paper, and created someone truly compelling,” he says. Although the scenes set in Spain take place in the series’ narrative, they were actually filmed in Croatia, which, along with Hungary, hosted much of the series’ production.

Redmayne says he chooses his roles based on instinct. “When you’re reading a script, and suddenly you get this feeling in your stomach of slight sickness as you begin to realize that you have to play this character and with that comes the anxiety. I like to challenge myself and be pulled in different directions. I try not to be afraid to fail,” he explains.

He laughs when asked if careful preparation for a role can lead an actor to become obsessed. “In this case, it was nine months of filming, and I was also a producer. I was away from home… so, yes, it was quite obsessive. Maybe one of the reasons they cast me was that I shared that quality with The Jackal: obsession. I could be shooting all day, then at the weekends, I’d be working on the scripts, having assemblies, or talking to the directors. It was rigorous and intense, but I feel very fulfilled in using all aspects of my brain.”

In addition to film and television, Redmayne has also continued his work in theater. In fact, in contrast to the hermetic and impenetrable Jackal, another character he has been associated with in recent years is the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret, a role he has brought to life on both the London stage and New York’s Broadway.

“It wasn’t difficult because for me to move between the two extremes because each part demanded something different,” says Redmayne. “Actually, one of the first productions I ever saw of Cabaret was in Madrid many, many years ago in Spanish. But for me, that character represents the soul of Berlin in that period. I was interested in the artistic and physical forms of German expressionist movies from the 1930s and some of those dances from that period. With the Jackal, even though he constantly changes the way he looks, it felt like a very different challenge. But it was nice to go to playing someone more internal rather than extroverted.”

The actor from Fantastic Beasts and The Danish Girl pauses for 15 seconds, reflecting on what he considers the most difficult aspect of acting. “It’s like joining a circus, living a crazy life. I’m trying to have a life with a certain level of normality. There can be consistency for my wife, my children, my family. That’s hard. Because when you’re working, it can be all-consuming. The most joyful thing about being an actor is it’s not a job. It’s the thing you did when you were a kid that gave you great happiness. And you continue to pinch yourself, I still can’t believe that I get paid to do this. It feels wrong somehow,” he concludes.

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