The Day Of The Jackal is a modern retelling of the classic novel and an update of the 1973 film. Writer, executive producer, and creator Ronan Barrett was instrumental in bringing this timeless story back to the screen. The result is a well-received, critically acclaimed, and most importantly, popular show starring Academy Award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch as the main protagonists. Fresh off his triumphant work on the epic series Shōgun, Christopher Ross took the reins as director of photography and put his unique and methodical stamp on this work. Ross recently spoke to Immersive via Zoom about bringing this new vision to fruition.
[This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.]
Tell me a little bit about your relationship with the Jackal. Had you seen the other films? Have you read the book?
I was a teenager in the eighties. The Frederick Forsyth novels and movies were still big. It slipped from my consciousness a bit until director Brian Kirk got in touch. We had worked together a few times before. He told me that Ronan Bennett, a great writer I’ve worked with on Top Boy, had immersed himself in the novel and was conceptualizing what a modernized version of this assassination story would be like now. I was in as soon as I read the script for episode one.
So, when plotting out the look of this new Jackal for episodes one, two, and three, what thoughts went into your mind?
The challenge is to make it look new but feel familiar so that an audience is aware of the genre you are working within. It’s a 10-hour thrill chase. It also has a dual protagonist. The idea is that we’re flipping from the internal emotional monologue of the Jackal, juxtaposed with a secondary protagonist.
It’s a contemporary storyline that takes place across multiple nations. In the first episode, we are in London, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Sweden, and New York. Every episode has the same level of complexity. It’s about wrapping the characters’ stories around this global espionage thriller. There are many references to seventies thrillers, such as The Parallax View, The Conversation, and Three Days Of The Condor.
That’s the holy trinity of paranoid thrillers. I have rewatched all of them recently.
There’s very little coverage in The Parallax View. It doesn’t cut in a frenetic or energetic way. It just has this very considered and thoughtful imagery. One of the things we were looking at in terms of fulfilling a paranoid thriller is to follow the lead of being voyeuristic.
A film like The Conversation uses a lot of zooms—a long lens with a very narrow viewpoint, excluding the universe, to hone in on the audience’s viewpoint. So we knew we wanted to do a little bit of that. That leads to paranoia, but what that doesn’t lead to is emotional resonance.
The Day Of The Jackal is more of a hybrid mentality, where we’re voyeuristic when we need to feel paranoid. Regardless of the motive behind the assassination, the audience has to side with the Jackal. So, the audience must pull the trigger alongside the Jackal to be motivated to watch episodes two and three.
It is always interesting to see what different kinds of roles Eddie Redmayne does. Any favorite moments?
In episode three, when the Jackal mimics the chauffeur and emerges from the shadows in the car park… That’s a single steadicam shot that runs across the car park with the chauffeur and wraps around. You catch a glimpse of something; you’re unsure what it is. Then on the second return leg, you see that Eddie’s there. He takes a single shot, and the victim drops to the ground, pushing him in the boot into the car. The idea was always to try to create that sense of inevitable kinetic energy that takes us to the scene’s button. That was one of the rare occasions when we could fulfill all of the requirements in a single 45-second shot.
What camera did you use and what lenses?
I used the VENICE 2 and the ARRI Alfa Lenses from ARRI Rental in Budapest as our main package. We did a lot of Array Plates using AARI Alexa’s and Ultra Prime’s for that. There’s a birdwatching sequence at the beginning of episode two, where we’re in Spain and following the Jackal. I am a huge fan of Nicolas Roeg and his film Walkabout – It was an important influence. So for that sequence where we wanted the sun on the horizon and a perfectly circular flare, that’s a Cooke 25-250 Super Zoom. It is the very definition of the Cooke look.
What’s it like being on the other end of this?
I just love the work. It takes us to some strange places, takes a lot of hours, and takes me away from my family. The work is incredible: Brian’s directing, Richard Bullock’s production design—every set is a work of art. Luke Dunkley’s editing, Natalie Humphries’ costumes, and some incredible performances. It was a wonderful, amazing collaboration.
The Day Of The Jackal season one is streaming on Peacock.
