Trailer
Plot summary
The Jackal, a former KGB asset working as an international hitman, takes a contract from Azerbaijani mob kingpin Terek Murad, who wants a prominent American killed in retaliation for his younger brother's death in a Moscow operation. When the MVD interrogates one of Murad's henchmen, the FBI learns of the plot but has no picture of the man or his plan. Deputy Director Carter Preston and Russian police Major Valentina Koslova turn to Declan Mulqueen, an imprisoned Provisional IRA sniper, because his former lover, the ETA militant Isabella Zanconia, may be able to identify the killer. Mulqueen says he knows the Jackal and agrees to help, asking for his release and a safe haven for Zanconia; Preston does not fully trust that he will keep his word.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Jackal (1997)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film began production titled The Day of the Jackal, but the author of the original novel, Frederick Forsyth, with the original film's director and producer Fred Zinnemann and John Woolf, filed an injunction preventing Universal Pictures from using that name; it was marketed as 'inspired by' Forsyth's novel, crediting only Kenneth Ross's 1973 screenplay.
SPOILER
In an early test-screened version an innocent man hiding out in a gay bar was shot by Willis's character, and the audience loudly cheered the killing; GLAAD's entertainment media director Chaz Bono spoke with producer Sean Daniel, who arranged to have the scene re-edited, while Willis successfully fought to keep a same-sex kiss in the film.- The climactic chase scene, set in the Washington Metro, was filmed in the Montreal Metro, with studio interiors shot at Carolco Pictures Studios in Wilmington and at Pinewood Studios in England.
- Carter Burwell's score for The Jackal was never officially released on CD, although he uploaded select cues from the film to his website; the project was not a happy experience for him, as he disliked the script and disapproved of producer Danny Saber's remix of his score.
