Ben Hall interview on The Day of the Jackal

Hi Ben, hi Sarah from The Upcoming, such a pleasure to have you here with us. For people who don't know anything about Day of the Jackal, what can they expect going into the show? They can expect an incredibly exciting roller coaster of a ride that it just takes the audience globally to lots of different places in the hunt for an elusive killer. And were you already familiar with the book, with the 1973 film, did you go back and revisit that material? I knew of the book, then watched the film, loved the film, yeah went back a bit. We sort of did this thing where of course we want to pay homage to this amazing piece of work and we are all such fans of the book. But we also just wanted to sprinkle just a few things new that will surprise the audience. What can you tell us about your character, how he fits in the story and how you approach playing him? My character is an MI6 agent, he works very closely with Bianca, he is very serious, very serious man and is incredibly ambitious. And in terms of approaching the character, we were incredibly lucky, we had a specialist on set who would answer any of our questions in terms of MI6 stuff and so I mined him for all that I was allowed to without him saying that's classified too much. I guess particularly working with Aishana but also an incredible cast across the board, what was it like working with her? I felt like a kid at Christmas, I'm not going to lie, I walk in and I see Chuck and I see Lashana and Jojo and Leah, I mean they are actors on the top of their game, they are extraordinary, kind, generous, lovely people and I felt incredibly, incredibly lucky. And Eddie Redmayne, I mean he always chooses such contrasting different roles and disappears into them, you see here it's kind of part of the character to be quite elusive, what makes him perfect to play the jackal? For me it's he is so dedicated to his craft and he does, as you say, he does just, he leaps in and completely disappears and I mean you're watching, he is extraordinary, he is extraordinary and it's amazing to see, there really is something there. And what were your highlights from working on this amazing set and all these different locations, were you mostly in an office though? Certainly, I'm mainly in the office, which is, you know, fine, they have lovely lighting in there, so I can't complain and a crusty cup of coffee and comfy chairs actually, so you know, lots and lots of love, really. What do you ultimately hope people take away from the show, I mean it really is just such an edge of your seat thriller, such high production values, what do you think takeaways might be? I just really, I just really want them to have a really great time, you know, it's so brilliantly character driven but with the most insane action and I just really hope they completely love it and they're just bowled over. And a good soundtrack actually as well. Great soundtrack, it's so good, I bet we all noticed that when the trailer came out and we're like, oh okay, yes, I like this, this is great. And what's next for you after you finish the show? To be honest, just dining out on this for as long as possible and then calming down and I'm gonna go on holiday, that's what I'm gonna do. Sounds well deserved, well congratulations on the show, really enjoyed tonight, nice to meet you, thank you, cheers.