Exclusive: Day Of The Jackal Remake In The Works
Sometimes a killer gets more than one shot at their target. That looks to be the case here according to our trusted and proven sources, who tell us Universal Pictures is remaking 1973’s The Day of the Jackal. The acclaimed original film is the fictional account of a 1962 assassination attempt on French President Charles de Gaulle.
We’ve exclusively learned Universal Pictures is working on a remake film of 1973’s The Day of the Jackal.
We don’t yet know how close to the 1973 film the plot of The Day of the Jackal remake will be in terms of the major players, the time period, and the setting. Our sources say the film will, like the original, involve the hunt for an elite assassin who is hired to eliminate a high-profile target, setting off a high-stakes game of cat and mouse.
The Day of the Jackal has already been remade a couple of times with the details changed each time. The first remake was the 1988 Indian Malayalam-language thriller August 1 which sets the events in India instead of France. Then there was 1997’s The Jackal which starred Richard Gere, Bruce Willis, and Sidney Poitier.
1973’s The Day of the Jackal stars Edward Fox as the titular assassin hired to kill French President Charles de Gaulle; De Gaulle reportedly survived at least 30 assassination attempts in real life.
The news of this remake is particularly interesting considering word from earlier this year that The Day of the Jackal would be remade not as a film, but as a Peacock original series. In March Deadline reported Eddie Redmayne of Fantastic Beasts fame was attached to star as the titular assassin in the streaming show.
In light of this, we can only speculate about the connection between the upcoming series and the feature. The film could be a spinoff of, or supplement to, the Peacock series, just as the Russo brothers made sure to turn Citadel into an espionage franchise before the series even premiered on Amazon Prime Video in April.
It’s also possible that, since it was first announced, Peacock’s The Day of the Jackal remake has been transformed from a series into a film. We might be going too far to say this is likely, but it’s something that would certainly fit with recent goings-on in Hollywood.
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have done no favors to production schedules, and it could be that Redmayne and any other attached talent no longer have the time available for a series. This would mirror somewhat the development history of the upcoming Paramount streaming film Star Trek: Section 31, which was originally conceived as a series before the schedule of the lead — Michelle Yeoh — got a lot more crowded.
The Day of the Jackal has already been remade a couple of times with the details changed each time.
Nor is it out of the realm of possibility that Universal is doing two completely separate The Day of the Jackal projects. Redmayne’s series will reportedly be set in the present day, but it’s possible the film will seek to be something completely distinct by unfolding in an entirely different time and place.
Once we know more about the remake of The Day of the Jackal, we’ll make sure to update you.
