In the third instalment of Vanity Fair’s series The Craft of… in partnership with Sky Glass, The Day of the Jackal’s actor and co-executive producer Lashana Lynch takes us into a thrilling world of espionage and assassinations. The Day of the Jackal is now available on Sky in the UK and on Peacock in the US. To find out more about Sky Glass please visit sky.com
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00:00But the location, the costumes, the chase,
00:04the swapping out of me and Eddie's stunt doubles.
00:08There's just so much work that goes into this.
00:12And it's the rumbling of the...
00:16That, that makes me feel like something bad is about to happen.
00:31Now that the show is out,
00:32I'm able to share some behind-the-scenes secrets with you all
00:36about the making of the show.
00:37Hello, Sky. Play The Day of the Jackal.
00:40This is my TV now.
00:46This was my first, actually, my first big sequence for Bianca.
00:50It was really intense, actually.
00:51I feel like the actors and the crew were just in it.
00:55It was hot in Budapest.
00:58In Budapest, we had all our tactical gear on
01:01and a lot of sunblock.
01:04And now you're going to see us burst through the door,
01:09which did not happen once, like a fluke.
01:14Man down.
01:16There are moments in the show
01:18that are a direct replica of the original.
01:23For me, it's important to have that balance.
01:25And I think half of it came through honouring the Jackal character
01:30and the other half came through modernising through Bianca's character.
01:35Bianca's character wasn't Bianca.
01:38She was a man who was very different.
01:41It felt as though this retelling of the story
01:45was an opportunity for us to dive into
01:47how women can serve in the espionage world.
01:50And I think she's an example of that.
01:52I have been in the espionage genre before,
01:55but also come into something like this as a student.
01:58How would Bianca approach her fascination
02:03and her expertise towards weaponry?
02:05Two packs down.
02:07Immediate extraction from X-ray now.
02:09A lot of those thoughts came from the women I spoke to
02:13from the Metropolitan Police all the way up to MI6.
02:17And they gave me a lot of insight into how women
02:19and they gave me a lot of insight into how they relate to their weapons.
02:24From their training at the beginning,
02:26to then seeing some things, some horrific things in their career,
02:29to then maybe becoming a mother
02:31and having bigger responsibilities in life
02:33and maybe not wanting to touch weapons again.
02:36Here I got to really take my time
02:39and understand the brains behind servicewomen.
02:43I just love that we're doing more for them
02:45and I love that someone like Bianca exists on the page.
02:48Forty metres out at the rear. Moving.
02:52Moving.
02:53When you're watching on TV at home with your family,
02:57you're seeing something new that is subconsciously
03:02reminding you of the kind of work that we're all doing to push barriers.
03:10Being a producer while you're shooting is one thing,
03:13but producing during the post-production process
03:17is so juicy.
03:19I love talking about sound, I love talking about the grades
03:23and the edit and how that informs the narrative also.
03:27So I had some great conversations with our composer Volker
03:32and our musical supervisor Catherine,
03:34who were just so as meticulous as me.
03:38Creating suspense is one of the most important things,
03:41especially when it pertains to this genre.
03:47We were creating like a symphony of story,
03:49which is what it should look like and what it should feel like.
04:02OK, everything, including that word that you just heard there,
04:06which is naughty kids.
04:08The sound of the gun, the car driving away, my footsteps.
04:11Everything was between Foley and ADR
04:14and I just love that that's another way that you can create suspense
04:17and drama and tension.
04:19Huffing and puffing is brilliant to do in ADR.
04:23You can hyperventilate in those moments, which is fun, actually.
04:28Bravo to Tango. We were set up. He knew we were coming.
04:31Watching it on TV is like getting into the mind
04:34of what my parents' experiences would be
04:36and what the nation's experience would be.
04:38When you're able to go to the cinema, it's brilliant.
04:41When you're watching something that is made for home,
04:44you want the sound to be good.
04:45The sound here is crisp, it's heightened, and I'm experiencing it.
04:50Hello, sky. Raise the volume.
04:52I'm not gonna lie, this may be my favourite scene.
04:54OK.
04:57From the start, you've been really upfront with me
05:00about how much you love your job and how important it is to you, OK?
05:02But last night, you brought danger into our home.
05:06Between that knife being held at my daughter's neck
05:08and that gun you had pointed in her direction,
05:10Jasmine could have been fucking killed.
05:12She wasn't. I dealt with it.
05:13She said you tortured the man.
05:15I always feel very sad for Bianca watching this scene
05:18because she's trying.
05:20It doesn't look like it from the outside, but she's trying very hard.
05:24I remember being tired at this point because there was a lot of emotion.
05:28And you can see it in my eyes, you can see it under the eyes.
05:30On the page, she was teaching me about how she wants to be represented.
05:35And how she wants to be represented is in this raw, like, fleshy way.
05:39She just feels very naked.
05:41Here was just a really honest, raw argument
05:45between two people that love each other,
05:48but also don't really know how to in this moment.
05:52If I'm not where they tell me to be
05:54at the exact time that they tell me to be there,
05:57then someone dies.
06:00Do you understand?
06:03It's heartbreaking, actually,
06:04to watch her go through the kinds of internal wars.
06:09And here she was in an impossible situation
06:12with her work and her home life
06:16crossing in a way that was highly dangerous and very compromising.
06:20But again, that's another reason why we have characters like this,
06:24so we can watch people's very questionable morals play out
06:30and sit with it, sit with the ugliness.
06:34I don't recognize you anymore.
06:40Throughout your career, you work with a lot of new people.
06:45Every so often, there's some familiar face somewhere.
06:48And in this instance, it was the young, brilliant, fascinating actor
06:54that is Florissa Kamara, who played my daughter,
06:57not only in this show, but on another Sky show called Bulletproof.
07:01And I just love that I was able to watch her grow
07:05from a nine-year-old to a 15-year-old
07:08and just become this brilliant, established, really clever actor.
07:12Hello, Sky. Fast forward 24 minutes and 18 seconds.
07:18Oh, excellent.
07:25I love that me and Eddie shared a scene, which is so rare.
07:32The location, the costumes, the chase,
07:36the swapping out of me and Eddie's stunt doubles.
07:39There's just so much work that goes into this.
07:41And it's the rumbling of the...
07:46That that makes you feel like something bad is about to happen.
07:54Oh, I'm also allergic to horses, so that was helpful.
07:58I remember just walking at arm's length at all times
08:01to ensure that I was like,
08:03you're so beautiful, but also, you could maybe give me an asthma attack.
08:10One thing that really attracted me to the show,
08:12and me and Eddie talk about it a lot,
08:14is this grey area between good and evil.
08:18It's not binary in any way. It's not black and white.
08:21The Jackal, he is seemingly evil,
08:24but actually, when you keep getting to know him throughout the show,
08:27you see his softness and his gentle side
08:32and what is leading him to even want to make these decisions.
08:35And the similarities between the two of them
08:38really remind us that we cannot look at any one person,
08:42whether it be on TV or in real life,
08:45and think, that's a good person, that's a bad person, I can't trust them.
08:49Because there's a crossover somewhere.
08:51There's decisions we have to make all the time
08:53that are a little bit compromising,
08:55that we don't always want to do.
08:57And here, you get to explore the psychology behind that.
09:02Fuck!
09:11And this moment here is my favourite,
09:13because I was determined to have Bianca scream.
09:19Fuck!
09:23With a swear word, which is necessary, I think, at this moment.
09:27She's just lost the guy.
09:31Well, thanks for watching.
09:32I hope you enjoyed this exclusive look behind the scenes
09:35of The Day in the Jackal.