The 1973 film adaptation of the Frederick Forsyth cat-and-mouse thriller “was one of my family’s favourite films” that he saw “from maybe quite an inappropriately young age,” the actor revealed to News during the London launch of his new Sky Atlantic show.
“We repeatedly viewed it,” he clarified. “So when these scripts arrived in my inbox, I had some trepidation that I didn’t want to butcher this character.”
The 10-part drama explores contemporary issues, such as right-wing radicalism and megalomaniac social media gurus, while keeping the target of Redmayne’s assassin character a secret.
Redmayne stated on the red carpet that he found the current episodes to be “basically the kind of TV that I wanted to see.”
His character had very few lines in episode one, but the Oscar winner had to prepare for this job well in advance. He needed to train with weapons and get assistance from dialect and movement experts to be able to switch between characters with ease.
