13/48
The Jackal is an elusive assassin who makes his living by carrying out high-stakes assassinations. He soon meets his match in the form of a tenacious British intelligence officer who tracks him down on a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe. Check our list of renewals and cancellations to see if your favorite show has been picked up. Forsyth worked as a freelance journalist covering the Biafran War. When it ended, he returned to the UK unemployed and unsure what to do next. He said: “I came back for Christmas ’69, broke as hell. I couldn’t get a job, I didn’t have a flat, I didn’t have a car and I didn’t have any savings. That’s when I had this crazy, crazy idea to write a novel. “Everyone said you must be joking or angry because the chances of it being published were a hundred to one, maybe a thousand to one.” Within weeks of publication, the film rights were snapped up. Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars were in the running for the role of the Jackal in the 1973 film, but the role went to then unknown Edward Fox because director Fred Zinnemann felt he could be invisible in a crowd. (Air Mail). Mentioned on The Graham Norton Show: Denzel Washington/Paul Mescal/Saoirse Ronan/Eddie Redmayne/Blossoms (2024). I have to agree with many other reviewers, it’s a great production with a good atmosphere and Eddie Redmayne does a great job in the lead role of the Jackal, but the female lead just ruins the whole thing. It’s a complete failure to cast an actor who can’t show any emotion on his face, regardless of the situation, and who almost overdoes it, perhaps to compensate for his lack of understanding or appreciation of the character. The character is obviously supposed to be confident and experienced, but her portrayal is that of a cocky “know-it-all” woman who, first of all, doesn’t appreciate the evidence carrying a briefcase in the general office. She’s just so annoying and unbelievable.