The Day of the Jackal follows an assassin with an unmatched chameleon skill as he makes his way through missions in Europe – with an MI6 agent hot on his heels.

So how exactly do you do this when an Academy Award-winning actor is your leading man? A lot of skill, and a lot of prosthetics, something that even The Jackal himself would be proud of.

The team certainly had their work cut out for them, with the resulting eight-part thriller seeing their efforts come to life as Eddie Redmayne transforms into the mysterious killer-for-hire with his own secrets to keep.

Here are just some of the lengths the cast and crew went to in order to bring this story to life and into the 21st century.

Director Brian Kirk helmed the opening three episodes of the reimagined The Day of the Jackal.

Talking about what excited him most about the series, Brian said: “I love manhunt stories, so what I was hoping for – and what I got – was a story in which the moral, emotional, and existential relationship between the hunter and the hunted, was excavated.”

In determining the perfect visual aesthetic for the storytelling, the filmmaker says he started by examining the tradition of espionage films.

He said: “Frames within frames, worlds within worlds, unreliable imagery and reflections. And that is part of it, we want to live in that world, but we also want to live in a world where the camera embraces those tropes in a more dynamic way.”

Kirk also drew inspiration from classic film noir.

He added: “A lot of silhouettes, a lot of very contrast-y environments. There was also the question of point of view and the idea of watching and being watched, which is connected to the hunter and the hunted.

“You have reversals within scenes and you create a pendulum in terms of the visual language, pace, and tone. Ideally, you want to create a visual landscape where hunter and hunted converge, and you see that they are two sides of the same coin. You also want to create a situation where the audience wants both characters to prevail and survive, even if that’s impossible.”

Eddie Redmayne worked tirelessly on his preparation for the role and also spoke with numerous experts in the field.

The actor said: “I wanted the Jackal to be elegant, calm, and economic. He glides through space like a knife through butter. For example, the gun you see constructed is beautifully designed and fits amazingly into a suitcase. I had to practice putting it together over and over again. I'd play Mozart to try and calm me into not rushing while I constructed the thing.

“The other fun thing in prep was working with this brilliant man, Paul Biddis, who is an ex-soldier. For several weeks in London, I learned about surveillance techniques. He showed me all of his tricks, all the old-school things.

“For example, often people like the Jackal have tampons on them because when you receive a bullet wound that's the most brilliant thing to plug it. Or mirrors for moving around the streets and watching people. Or they'll carry a high-vis jacket because there’s nothing like putting on a high-vis jacket to get you access to all of these restricted areas.”

The challenge of convincingly transforming Redmayne into many different characters fell to a team of people including prosthetics designer, Richard Martin.

Richard revealed: “Eddie Redmayne not only has a very recognisable face but he has a very distinctive face. To completely transform him so you wouldn’t recognise it's him was both fantastically exciting but equally terrifying because if you don't pull it off, there's nowhere to hide. Your work is front and centre.

“We were able to age the characters a bit, which helped us because we could put weight where Eddie didn’t have weight. We needed to completely lose Eddie in the make up but he also needed to be able to perform so we made the decision to disguise his lips with a big hairy moustache so it didn’t limit the movement around his mouth.”

“The lovely thing about having Eddie involved at an early stage was that he was full of valid ideas and he came at this project from a very similar angle to me. It was all about creating a character.”

Of the Jackal’s initial transformation into the German cleaner, Redmayne said: “It was a discussion with our makeup artist Mel [Lenihan], Richard and I, and with director Brian Kirk about that first moment — trying to sell the idea that the Jackal has taken this guy's voice and identity.

“Brian came up with a brilliant idea which was rather than cast a German actor and then try to make me look like them, to have Richard sculpt this extraordinary prosthetic. It involved doing casts of my head and amazing 3D scans which he then sculpted on top, then he made the prosthetic.

“We made me look like that character and then he did another 3D scan and built a complete model who ends up being the dead guy you see in the beginning. I look identical to him. I loved that I got to see the whole process of how that was created.”

Costume designer Natalie Humphries collaborated closely with Richard Martin and other members of the creative team to ensure the Jackal’s aliases were distinct from a fashion perspective.

She said: “With all of the transformations, we rehearsed and camera-tested many times with makeup, prosthetics, and a movement coach to create fully fleshed out characters who wouldn’t arouse the suspicion of the people the Jackal encounters and dupes. The Jackal’s looks were a complete collaboration with Eddie.”

Redmayne and Humphries leaned into the genre’s history and looked to espionage films of the ‘60s and ‘70s for inspiration, taking note of the colour palette and the clean silhouettes.

She added: “Eddie was hugely invested in the costumes and endlessly patient and committed to lengthy fittings and adjustments. We discussed films and actors whose looks we endeavoured to pay homage to with our contemporary Jackal.

“We shared an ambition to create a classic and hopefully iconic wardrobe that viewers of the original film would note and enjoy. To that end there are conscious nods to the 1973 film scattered throughout the series. In total we created 48 looks.”

“Along with reflecting a British sense of historical tailoring we were mindful that the Jackal operates largely in Europe. Eddie and I wanted his wardrobe to reflect an old-world quiet luxury and looked to European cinema for reference.

“We worked with elegant men’s outfitters Knize in Vienna to create the building blocks for the Jackal’s daily casual looks. The Jackal much like Gatsby has meticulously observed the codes of dress of the moneyed classes amongst whom he often operates in plain view.”

For more extreme metamorphoses the pair worked with costume maker Robert Allsopp to completely transform Redmayne’s outward physique; a lengthy process that began with the actor having a full-body cast from which Allsopp sculpted and constructed a full-body suit.

Allsopp added: “We tried several versions of the body suit, adding weight in some places, and definition and tone in others. We also had the great fortune of working with movement coach Alex Reynolds who through rehearsals helped us with several characters’ physical evolutions.”

The looks for MI6 arms specialist, Bianca (Lashana Lynch) were just as important as that of The Jackal.

Early on in the process, director Brian Kirk told costume designer Natalie Humphries that he was tired of seeing female agents “give chase in high-heel boots”. It was a note that both the designer and Lynch took to heart.

Humphries said: “With Bianca, I was very keen to create a clearly active field agent. Bianca needed to traverse the formal, suited world of MI6 and also be an active field operative. We teamed her tailoring with Carhartt and Nike tactical clothing. Sleek, fitted underlayers were the base so that they could comfortably fit body armour over the top.”

Lynch added: “I had conversations early on with Natalie, and hair and makeup designer Melanie Lenihan. They were both so open and had their finger on the pulse when it came to representing young, Black women in modern-day London.

“We were determined that Bianca should always feel comfortable and ready to be in the field, no matter where she was. I wanted there to be a real emphasis and balance between field gear, tactical gear and comfort.”

She added: “You'll see a lot of vests mixed with streetwear, tracksuit bottoms, Nike trainers, hoodies and things that seem leisure-led. It’s an honest, warm, relatable look that made me feel like I was in charge, but also made me feel like Bianca could do anything at any time.

“The addition of the Nike trainers was vital. You put them with these long, khaki trench coats and it kept her elegant, flowy and feminine. It wasn’t too masculine, heavy, or harsh, but it was functional in her line of work.”