Eddie Redmayne earns ‘£1million per episode’ for The Day Of The Jackal

Eddie Redmayne will reportedly bag ‘£1million’ per episode for Sky’s gritty new adaptation of The Day Of The Jackal.

The new 10-part series sees the actor, 42, play the elusive lone assassin known as the Jackal, originally played by Edward Fox in the classic 1973 film.

And according to The Mirror, Eddie will receive a huge payout while the thriller has become Sky’s most expensive series to date. 

The Oscar winner will bag £10million overall for his role as the titular character, who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee.

The publication reports that the industry insiders say the budget for the series, which also stars Captain Marvel actress Lashana Lynch, is set at a whopping  £100million. 

Eddie Redmayne will reportedly bag ‘£1million’ per episode for Sky’s gritty new adaptation of The Day Of The Jackal

The new 10-part series sees the actor, 42, play the elusive lone assassin known as the Jackal, originally played by Edward Fox in the classic 1973 film

The series is being made by Carnival Films and was commissioned by Sky Studios, who will then air the anticipated series across the UK and much of Europe, as well as US streaming service Peacock.

The Mirror reports that the huge wage was the ‘highest ever paid to a star’, but that is now becoming the ‘norm’ when big money companies such as Netflix, Apple and in this case Peacock, are involved. 

A source said: ‘Many TV companies and broadcasters are struggling with budgets being squeezed but not with high-end drama for a global audience involving the streamers.

‘If you can do a deal with one of them, you can absolutely break the bank.’

MailOnline have contacted representatives of Eddie for comment. 

Originally a novel by Frederick Forsyth the story follows the story of the trained killer who is hired to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle.

However, the Jackal meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana, 36) who starts to track him down in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake. 

Also starring are Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Chukwudi Iwuji, Game Of Thrones‘ Charles Dance, and Money Heist’s Ursula Corbero.

According to The Mirror, Eddie will receive a huge payout while the thriller has become Sky’s most expensive series to date

It’s said the huge wage was the ‘highest ever paid to a star’, but that is now becoming the ‘norm’ when big money companies such as Netflix, Apple and in this case Peacock, are involved [Eddie pictured with wife Hannah Bagshawe]

The publication reports that the industry insiders say the budget for the series, which also stars Captain Marvel actress Lashana Lynch [pictured] , is set at a whopping £100million

It was adapted for the small screen by Ronan Bennett, the creator and writer of the critically acclaimed English crime drama Top Boy. 

The Day Of The Jackal was directed by Brian Kirk whose credits include Game Of Thrones and Luther. 

The series is produced by Carnival Films, which is part of Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. 

Eddie serves as an executive producer, Lashana as a co-executive producer, and author Frederick as the consulting producer.  

Fellow executive producers Gareth Neame and Nigel Marchant, who both worked on Downton Abbey, spoke to GQ about the project. 

Gareth said: ‘We both loved the book, and we saw the film when we were kids — I’ve seen the film many times through my life, and always really respected it.’

Originally a novel by Frederick Forsyth, the story follows the story of the trained killer who is hired to is hired to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle (Edward Fox pictured in the 1973 movie version) 

Reimagined into a contemporary political setting, The Day Of The Jackal (2024) centres around an unrivalled and highly elusive high-networth lone assassin, the Jackal (Eddie)

The Jackal meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana, 36) who begins tracking him down in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction 

Frederick Forsyth’s story will be told by Sky and Peacock in 10 parts. It was adapted for the small screen by Ronan Bennett, creator of critically acclaimed English crime drama Top Boy

While they were at first cautious to tackle source material that carries with it such esteem, to expand the story across episodic TV seemed too good an opportunity to turn down. 

‘It’s such an iconic, gripping story, that to revisit that in a contemporary context, with all the benefits of a multi-episodic show … we thought that would be really interesting to take this much-respected IP and develop it this way.’

Nigel agreed: ‘I think that [this] kind of title is in so many people’s consciousness … And then yeah, what’s the benefit of telling this with a bigger canvas?’

Answering the main question of why the series is set in the 2020s as opposed to the ’60s of the book and the film, Gareth simply said: ‘If we’d stayed in the past, why do it? You can’t better the film.’