According to Emmy-nominated music supervisor Catherine Grieves (Baby Reindeer, Killing Eve), her work on Peacock's assassin thriller The Day of the Jackal — in which Eddie Redmayne stars as lone-wolf assassin The Jackal, and Lashana Lynch is the British intelligence officer chasing him across Europe — was a bit out of the ordinary right away.
"I was actually brought on in postproduction on the show," says Grieves. "Whereas normally I start at the script stage, and it's a nice, slow process of coming up with ideas, making sure we're sorted for the shoot and putting together playlists, in this instance I was brought on and the first two episodes had been locked, just not musically."
According to Grieves, producers were keen to bring a bit more structure and purpose to the project, and Grieves herself was keen to bring in a female voice through the music, representing the voice of Lynch's Bianca character, to balance against music that was reflective of the Jackal himself. "We have two lead characters in this show," Grieves says. "There are a lot of twists and turns, and making sure the music also had that feel to it was my first port of call," she says. "That, and bringing all of those aspects in with not very much time."
We asked Grieves to break down some of the more meaningful song selections from her work on The Day of the Jackal:
"This Is Who I Am" by Celeste (Main Titles Theme)
Titles are always such a tricky thing, and I think the ambition and the scale of this show and the character — we wanted to have a song for the show. But establishing that was my job, and my thought was initially to give the titles theme a nod to the original book and film.
We looked at potentially getting a cover done of a song from the late '60s or early '70s. Recognizable songs or songs that people know are quite difficult for titles themes, because there's always an association with something else. But what that unlocked was that having a timeless feel to our theme, and a real kind of class and elegance, was really important. We discussed various artists and had a shortlist, and one of those artists we all got quite excited about was Celeste.
The Jackal is very English, and we wanted to have an English artist sing. I called up Celeste's manager and floated the potential of her maybe writing something original and to see what her schedule was like, if there was any interest, and I gave him a brief about what we were looking for. Celeste's manager was like, "I think I already have the perfect song for you" — music to my ears. It was a demo of "This is Who I Am," which they had earmarked for Celeste's next album, which will be out next year. It just felt really right lyrically and was great tonally. It felt like we'd cracked it.
"Everything in Its Right Place" by Radiohead (Ep. 1)
This track opens the whole show. It's always a really important spot, the first scene in a new TV series. Musically, we wanted to set the tone for what the show is and who our characters are. One of the big things I had to consider, and why we definitely wanted to use a song here rather than score, was that the opening dialogue is in German.
Producers were very keen to make sure everyone felt like this isn't a foreign-language, dubbed show. We were keen to have a song with lyrics, and lyrics in English, and Radiohead felt like a really good fit for the show, for the Jackal. They feel very English, but there's also a kind of precision and control in the character of the Jackal that made it quite fun finding those songs and those artists that felt like the equivalent.
I think there's so much complexity in Radiohead, but with this incredibly considered and controlled and high-quality performance, which just felt very synonymous. We actually used Radiohead again later in the series, and The Smile as well, which is Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood's new spinoff band. So, we do have a bit of Thom Yorke continuity, shall we say, throughout the show.
"Black Feathers" by Sam Brookes (Ep. 2)
This track we use at the beginning of episode two. There's so much going on in this show, and no one really is who they seem. We tried to make sure our music and our soundtrack really delves into those moments when we are able to.
With the Jackal, we see this very cold surface a lot of the time. So, the small moments where we see more of an emotional side to him, or a more human side to him, to me it felt really important musically to get the right song.
There is a beautiful scene where the Jackal goes birdwatching. He's a very solitary character, and it was about finding a song that really supports that feeling of isolation. Sam Brookes is a British folk artist who's got this incredibly pure voice, and there's just a real kind of delicacy. It brings out a real human vulnerability, which I think was quite important early on in the series. We don't see those moments too often throughout the show, so it felt important.
"Trust In Me" by Etta James (Ep. 3)
When I started on the show, I pulled loads of ideas together, and one of the first things I like to establish from the producers, directors and all the filmmakers is, "What is this show about?" Not what the story is, but what's the theme that underpins the whole thing that we should be supporting? Basically, this show is all about deception. It's all about lies and manipulation. The Jackal is completely manipulative, and so is Bianca. They will do anything to get where they want and get the results they want.
"Trust in Me" is a really fun soul song, and the lyrics are, "Why don't you trust in me?" It felt quite apt to have that kind of message forced home by certain songs. We have commercial music across all of our end credits, and those are moments where you can have a bit more fun and put those messages in without it being too on the nose. Having Etta James at the end here kind of propels you into the next episode.
"Wicked Game" by Wolf Alice (Ep. 4)
My job as a music supervisor is to help come up with creative ideas and find the right bit of music. But then we also have to get the rights to that music. It's my responsibility to make sure that when we deliver the episode, we have permission to use whatever we want to use.
We actually had a different song over this episode-four sequence, which I'd found when I first started on the show. It was a cover of "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac, and everyone liked it. It worked really well. We wanted something familiar but with a bit of a twist, so finding a cover of something where there's that familiarity but also something a little darker — that was the brief. So, everybody [in Fleetwood Mac] said yes, apart from Stevie Nicks, who was on tour. We just couldn't get a response from Stevie. So, the weeks and then months move on, and everyone's trying to get this across the line. I have to at some point go, "Right, we're going to have to get a backup here," which could be really difficult when people have lived with a song for a long time and then you're coming [with a swap] towards the end. We're nearly there, and then you have to throw it all back up in the air.
So, we were looking at different options, and we found this cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" by Wolf Alice. It's actually a live cover. Everyone kind of fell in love with that, particularly [director-producer-writer] Anthony Philipson. I did point out to him that "Wicked Game" was notoriously very difficult to clear, but we were like, "Let's give it a go." We ended up on the day of the final mix, and I still didn't have anything cleared, and my other backup had said no. At this point, this is the most stressful situation you can be in. Then, the morning of the mix, I got an email from Stevie Nicks' publisher saying she'd said yes. But also, the "Wicked Game" cover was cleared. I'd gone from having nothing and being in an absolute panic to two great options. So, we went with this one, and I think it's great. There's a kind of raw grit to this version. I mean, the Chris Isaak original is obviously a legendary, unbeatable version in its own way, but I think there's a kind of depth to this and a kind of edge. And it being live I think works quite well at this point in the show, where Bianca's world is starting to unravel a little bit with her work. The danger of her work life is suddenly forced on her family, and we've got the Jackal up to his plotting. So, it felt like a good moment to use it.
"God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Empara Mi (Ep. 8)
In the third block of Jackal, director Paul Wilmshurst uses music quite sparingly. But every single song is completely thought through with so much detail. He's a brilliant director to work with.
Episode 8 is a really important episode in the series, because it gives a lot of the backstory as to who the Jackal is and why he is the Jackal. We see a completely different side of him. This song plays over the end credits of episode 8, but it needed to be something with a lot of weight to it.
We'd had quite a lot of fun with the music used so far, and this one needed to make a point. Actually, this version of this song by Empara Mi, a British female singer, I got created for another TV show quite a number of years ago. We used it once or twice, I think, in that project, but it was really nice to find a new life for it. It's a gospel song, but the famous version of it is by Johnny Cash.
Johnny Cash, sadly, is out of most budgets. Even though this is a big show, Johnny Cash is kind of "next level." And, again, we just wanted to bring in a female vocal. There's a kind of vulnerability to it, but with a very strong message, I think. This felt like quite an important spot.
Peacock's The Day of the Jackal, starring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch, is streaming now.
