Peacock's The Day of the Jackal stars Eddie Redmayne as a highly-elusive, lone assassin, who makes his living carrying out hits for high fees. Following his latest kill, the Jackal meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana Lynch), who starts to track down him down in a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe that leaves destruction in its wake.
The show began streaming in November 14, with five episodes at its launch and weekly episodes dropping on Thursdays. The double-episode finale (Episodes 9 & 10) was released on December 12th.
German composer Volker Bertelmann (pictured) created the show's original score and says working on a project that is based on such a well-known novel, and that has already been adapted multiple times, was both challenging and rewarding.
"The story being set in the late '70s and early '80s made also the music approach interesting," notes the composer, whose credits include Dune Prophecy and
All Quiet on the Western Front. "Another major aspect working on this project was the chance to work with the wonderful director Brian Kirk. And of course, having Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch as main actors made the project even more appealing."
Bertelmann saw the film version a long time ago, so his faint memory of it didn’t affect his approach.
"It allowed me to create something entirely new without any subconscious influence," he shares. "Having performed over a thousand improvisation live concerts, I’ve developed a deep sensitivity to new material and content. That’s what I like about film scoring a lot - it constantly pushes you forward and tells you what’s next. So, inspiration comes from an inner sense of connection to the musical expression. A lot of the film music I write could easily exist on one of my own records, which probably says something about how personal the process is for me."
The composer's toolset includes a mix of prepared and non-prepared piano, strings, brass and percussion.
"I used a lot of analogue synthesizers, like the Minimoog or the Jupiter 4," he adds. "I also have a large collection of microphones, preamps and effect pedals, all of which came into play throughout the process. We used a lot of pitch-bending techniques, not only on classical instruments, but also on synths. So, in the end, nothing new, but I like to work with a quite mixed-up traditional set."
He points to the series' first episode as one of the musical highlights that set the tone for the show. In it, the Jackal is lying in an apartment, quite a distance from his target, and assembling a weapon made from pieces of his suitcase.
"The precision and calm he shows in that moment became a kind of blueprint for the Jackal theme," he reveals. "This blend of movement, with delicate, high-string textures marked the beginning of the instrumentation concept for his character."
He also shares the feelings he gets from completing sequences, and the series as a whole.
"It’s always a great feeling to finish something, but on a long-format series like this, you experience that sense of completion several times. The first big moment came after I had written the score for the first three episodes, and the main themes had emerged as themes that would carry through the remaining seven episodes. By the time we delivered the final reel, after composing around six hours of music, it truly felt like the end of a long, beautiful and sometimes challenging journey. And yes, that’s a moment worth celebrating."