Lashana Lynch Explains the Making Of 'The Day of the Jackal'

But the location, the costumes, the chase,

the swapping out of me and Eddie's stunt doubles.

There's just so much work that goes into this,

and it's the rumbling of the [Lashana humming] that

that makes you feel like something bad is about to happen.

[dramatic music]

Now that the show is out,

I'm able to share some behind the scenes secrets

with you all about the making of the show.

Hello, Sky, play The Day of the Jackal.

This is my TV now.

[dramatic music]

This was my first,

actually my first big sequence for Bianca.

It was really intense actually.

I feel like the actors and the crew were just in it.

It was hot in Budapest.

We had all our tactical gear on and a lot of sunblock,

and now you're gonna see us burst through the door,

which did not happen once like a fluke.

[Man] Man down.

There are moments in the show

that are a direct replica of the original.

For me, it's important to have that balance,

and I think half of it came through

honoring the Jackal character

and the other half came

through modernizing through Bianca's character.

Bianca's character wasn't Bianca.

She was a man who was very different.

It felt as though this retelling of the story

was an opportunity for us to dive into

how women can serve in the espionage world.

And I think she's an example of that.

[dramatic music]

I have been in the espionage genre before,

but also come into something like this as a student.

How would Bianca approach her fascination

and her expertise towards weaponry.

Two packs down immediate extraction from X-ray now.

A lot of those thoughts came from the women I spoke to

from the Metropolitan Police all the way up to MI-6,

and they gave me a lot of insight

into how they relate to their weapons,

from their training at the beginning,

to then seeing some things,

some horrific things in their career,

to then maybe becoming a mother

and having bigger responsibilities in life

and maybe not wanting to touch weapons again.

Here I've got to really like take my time

and understand the brains behind service women.

I just love that we're doing more for them,

and I love that someone like Bianca exists on the page.

[Operative] 40 meters out of the rear, moving,

Moving.

When you're watching on TV at home with your family,

you're seeing something new

that is subconsciously reminding you of the kind of work

that we're all doing to push barriers.

Being a producer while you're shooting is one thing,

but producing during the post-production process

is so juicy.

I love talking about sound.

I love talking about the grades and the edit

and how that informs the narrative also.

So I had some great conversations with our composer, Volker,

and our musical supervisor, Catherine,

who were just so, as meticulous as me.

Creating suspense is one of the most important things,

especially when it pertains to this genre.

[phone ringing]

We were creating like a symphony of story,

which is what it should look like

and what it should feel like.

[dramatic music] [guns firing]

Fuck.

Okay, everything including that word

that you just heard there, which is naughty kids,

the sound of the gun, the car driving away, my footsteps,

everything was was between Foley and ADR,

and I just love that that's another way

that you can create suspense

and drama and tension.

Huffing and puffing is brilliant to do in ADR,

you can hyperventilate in those moments,

which is fun actually.

Bravo to tango, we were set up.

He knew we were coming.

Watching it on TV is like getting into the mind

of what my parents' experiences would be

and what the nation's experience would be.

When you're able to go to the cinema, it's brilliant.

When you're watching something that is made for home,

you want the sound to be good.

The sound here is crisp, it's heightened,

and I'm experiencing it.

Hello, Sky, raise the volume.

Not gonna lie, this may be my favorite scene.

Okay, from the start,

you've been really upfront with me

about how much you love your job

and how important it is to you, okay?

But last night you brought danger into our home.

Between that knife being held at my daughter's neck

and that gun you had pointed in her direction,

Jasmine could have been fucking killed.

But she wasn't.

I dealt with it.

She said you tortured the man.

I always feel very sad for Bianca watching this scene

because she's trying.

It doesn't look like it from the outside,

but she's trying very hard.

I remember being tired at this point

'cause there was a lot of emotion,

and you can see it in my eyes,

you can see it under the eyes.

On the page, she was teaching me

about how she wants to be represented,

and how she wants to be represented is in this raw

like fleshy way.

She just feels very naked.

Here was just a really honest, raw argument

between two people that love each other

but also don't really know how to in this moment.

If I'm not where they tell me to be

at the exact time that they tell me to be there,

then someone dies.

Do you understand?

It's heartbreaking actually to watch her go through

the kinds of internal wars,

and here she was in an impossible situation with her work

and her home life crossing in a way

that was highly dangerous and very compromising.

But again, that's another reason

why we have characters like this.

So we can watch people's very questionable morals play out

and sit with it.

Sit with the ugliness.

I don't recognize you anymore.

[dramatic music]

Throughout your career, you work with a lot of new people,

but every so often there's some familiar face somewhere.

And in this instance, it was the young, brilliant,

fascinating actor that is Florisa Kamara

who played my daughter, not only in this show

but on another Sky show called Bulletproof,

and I just love that I was able to watch her grow

from like a 9-year-old to a 15-year-old

and just become this brilliant, established,

really clever actor.

Hello, Sky.

Fast forward 24 minutes and 18 seconds.

Oh, excellent.

[dramatic music]

I love that me and Eddie shared a scene, which is so rare.

[dramatic music]

The location, the costumes, the chase,

the swapping out of me and Eddie's stunt doubles.

There's just so much work that goes into this,

and it's the rumbling of the [Lashana humming] that

that makes me feel like something bad is about to happen,

[dramatic music]

Oh, I'm also allergic to horses, so that was helpful.

I remember just walking at arm's length at all times

to ensure that I was like, you're so beautiful,

but also you could maybe give me an asthma attack.

[Lashana laughing]

One thing that really attracted me to the show,

and me and Eddie talk about it a lot,

is this gray area between good and evil.

It's not binary in any way.

It's not black and white, the Jackal, he is seemingly evil,

but actually when you keep getting to know him

throughout the show, you see his softness

and his gentle side

and what is leading him to even wanna make these decisions.

And the similarities between the two of them

really remind us that we cannot look at any one person,

whether it be on TV or in real life,

and think that's a good person.

That's a bad person.

I can't trust them

because there's a crossover somewhere.

There's decisions we have to make all the time

that are a little bit compromising

that we don't always want to do.

And here you get to explore the psychology behind that.

[dramatic music]

Fuck.

[dramatic music]

And this moment here is my favorite

because I was determined to have Bianca scream

[Bianca screaming]

with the swear words, which is necessary, I think,

at this moment.

She's just lost the guy.

Well, thanks for watching.

I hope you enjoy this exclusive look behind the scenes

of Thee Day of the Jackal.