‘Jackal’ Filmmakers Assail New Film With Classic Title

Legendary film director Fred Zinnemann is battling Universal Pictures over its plans to call a new film “The Day of the Jackal,” the title of his own 1973 classic thriller. He is accusing the studio of accepting a new and completely different screenplay and attaching to it an internationally known title.

Zinnemann, the 89-year-old director of such landmark Hollywood films as “High Noon,” “From Here to Eternity,” “Oklahoma!,” “A Man for All Seasons” and “Julia,” claims Universal has “hijacked” the title “The Day of the Jackal,” and insists the new film must be renamed.

“It’s totally wrong to take a title away from a picture that’s still alive,” said Zinnemann, noting that his 1973 film is often rerun on television around the world and remains a popular rental choice at video stores.

His film of “The Day of the Jackal,” based on the best-selling novel by Frederick Forsyth, is about a contract killer (played by Edward Fox) who aims to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle. Universal’s film will star Bruce Willis as an FBI man assigned to hunt down a hit man (Richard Gere) contracted by the Russian Mafia to kill the American president.

Forsyth has joined in the battle alongside Zinnemann and wrote to Universal executive Greg Meidel: “These plotting elements have absolutely nothing to do with the original story, while the tradition of remakes is that at least the basic elements should be retained.”

Speaking from his office Friday, Zinnemann quoted the adage: “ ‘Beware the anger of a patient man,’ ” and added: “I am a patient man. But I’m in a state of rage about this. I’m not a victim. I don’t want sympathy and this has nothing to do with money. I want justice. All I want is for [Universal] not to use that title.

“It’s as if a lunatic came into a museum, started smashing minor works of art, you tried to stop him, and he would say: ‘I can do this under the law’ and carry on smashing them. That’s how I feel.”

Zinnemann added that he had demanded an explanation from the director of the new film, Michael Caton-Jones (“Rob Roy”), who had visited him. “He said he had never seen my film. After I told him what it meant for our film to be wiped out in this way, he was very forthright and sympathetic. I asked him to use his influence but he said he might not be able to do much.”

Also fiercely opposed to Universal’s plans is John Woolf, the producer of Zinnemann’s film. He told The Times that he originally bought the rights to Forsyth’s book and owned the underlying rights to the film before turning those rights over to Universal. The studio therefore owned the title “The Day of the Jackal.” “But they are only allowed to use it under certain conditions with which they haven’t complied,” he added.

“They have to make it clear it’s not a remake. It wouldn’t be enough to advertise it as ‘Bruce Willis in the Day of the Jackal.’ I think it will be very hard for them to do that. I don’t think for a moment [Universal] will use the title, and I think I can stop them if they try to.”

Forsyth’s letter to Meidel noted that Zinnemann’s film had “served Universal extremely well over the years and indeed had become something of a classic. The author also sardonically posed the question of whether the studio would contemplate a film about a Seattle weather forecaster and call it “A Man for All Seasons,” or a movie about a boardroom coup in Poughkeepsie and title it “High Noon.”

Marc Platt, Universal’s president of production, said the studio had “only the highest regard for Mr. Zinnemann and Mr. Woolf, and their collective contribution to the world of cinema speaks for itself.”

“Universal is not in the business of, and will not infringe upon the rights of a person or party. And certainly Universal would not commence production on a film that would infringe upon the rights of any person or party.”

But Zinnemann, Forsyth and Woolf are more concerned with the moral aspects of appropriating a film’s title rather than the studio’s rights under the law. “Legally, they may have every right to do it,” Forsyth said Friday. “But artistically to take a story that has not one single element of the original and put that title on it is to shortchange the public.

“This is a new, quite different film with an original screenplay. OK, it’s about a hit man, but there must be 50 films about hit men. It’s a strange business. You can’t take a completely different car and call it a Jaguar but it seems you can take a completely different film and call it ‘Jackal.’ ”

Forsyth added that it would probably benefit Universal to give the new film another title: “If you call it ‘The Day of the Jackal,’ you’re setting it up for all kinds of comparisons.”

Zinnemann agreed: “Legally perhaps we can’t do anything. But morally it’s a deplorable thing. It’s scandalous.” He has emphasized that his 1973 film is “very much alive,” adding that he has made about $95,000 in royalty payments this year alone.

Meanwhile, Edward Fox, the English actor who played the assassin in Zinnemann’s film, was reportedly offered a minor role as a banker in the new picture but turned it down. “I think his refusal was more in amusement than anger,” Forsyth said.

A Universal spokesman said the studio would soon be in contact with Zinnemann. “We believe we can work this matter out to everybody’s satisfaction,” he said.

But Zinnemann insisted that only a title change would satisfy him. “Let them call it ‘Night of the Shark’ or something,” he said.