The film was shot on location in Paris, London, Rome, Genoa, Nice and director Fred Zinnemann's native city, Vienna.

Because of French producer Julien Derode's skill in dealing with authorities, Zinnemann was able to shoot in usually restricted locations, such as inside the Ministry of the Interior. That was something, according to the director, that had never been granted to any other film company, French or foreign, and which led to outcries in the French press of "favoritism for the Anglo-Saxons."

The company was also able to film inside the police lines of the huge annual July 14 parade down the Champs-Elysees, beginning at dawn with the gradual massing of troops, tanks and artillery that took part in the march. Against this backdrop, Zinnemann shot actors impersonating police personnel. In one scene, the gendarmes arrest and frisk a spectator who reaches inside his coat for what turns out to be merely a pack of cigarettes. Some onlookers thought the scene was real and protested loudly against the "police action."

The Paris police also agreed to clear a very busy square of all traffic for three days during the weekend of August 15, the height of the vacation season when most Parisians left the city. Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire weekend, but the bad weather didn't register on film.

The Parisian train station Gare Montparnasse, which had been razed since the film's 1963 setting, was recreated in the Studios de Boulogne in Paris.

The first scene Edward Fox shot was The Jackal's hiring by the OAS. According to the actor, it didn't go well at first. "We worked on it for three days," he said. "I was leaning too hard on the scene. I needed to be cool, but somehow I couldn't seem to get it." Zinnemann took him on a long car ride to discuss the scene. "He told me not to be depressed, that whatever the drawbacks, it was still a wonderful way to make a living," Fox said.

For The Jackal's last disguise as a one-legged veteran, Fox had to have his leg bent back and strapped to his body. Because this was so painful and cut off all circulation, the company doctor would not allow the actor to do this for more than five minutes at a time.

Cayla's remarkable resemblance to De Gaulle caused quite a stir on location in the streets of Paris. In one scene, where he emerges from a car at the Arc de Triomphe, bystanders gasped when they saw what they thought was De Gaulle's ghost, and according to Zinnemann, one onlooker crossed himself and passed out.

The special light weight, concealable rifle The Jackal has made for the assassination was an actual working weapon constructed by a master British gunsmith. Two rifles were made; one now resides in the Paris Cinematheque and the other was turned over to British authorities as agreed.

by Rob Nixon