Day Of The Jackal showrunner reimagining Army Of Shadows as futuristic, British

“Democracy is once again in clear and present danger,” Bennett said. “Resistance to fascism is–and must always be–a permanent struggle. This is a story about commitment, resistance, and defiance in the coming age.”

It is quite a change from the source material. Melville’s 1969 adaptation blends the director’s knack for patient crime-film setpieces with the unshowy, grounded sabotage and spycraft of the Resistance. Appropriately, Philippe (played in the film by an unassuming Lino Ventura), the rebel protagonist, is no James Bond. Still, he makes jumping out of a plane look easy. Kessel’s original novel was a mix of memoir and historical fiction. Like the Melville, the author was a member of the French Resistance and used his experiences for the novel, but he never joined a near-future rebellion to quell the American government’s fascist occupation of Britain, to the best of our knowledge.