Eddie Redmayne has revealed how his preparation for his new role in The Day Of The Jackal almost led to an off-set disaster.

The Academy award-winning actor, 42, was left internally screaming as he forced to rush back to his hotel room after leaving a rifle unattended in his hotel room.

Speaking to Sky News about the challenges of modernising Frederick Forsyth’s acclaimed novel, he explained how his prop training almost took a nasty turn.

As part of his role as Jackal, the elusive assassin who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee, required him to be able to construct a gun out of the internal workings of a wheelie case.

Asking to take home the prop for extra practice he explained: ‘There is a moment at which the Jackal constructs this rifle.

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The Day of the Jackal’s Eddie Redmayne has revealed how preparation for his new role in Sky thriller almost led to off-set disaster which left him SCREAMING

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As part of his role as Jackal, the elusive assassin who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee, required him to be able to construct a gun

‘It is a beautiful bit of prop design and I’m a really shoddy prop actor, so in Budapest I asked the prop master if I could take home this case with me to work on it in the hotel.’

When Eddie returned to the hotel there was a student protest outside and there were lots of armed guards around the area.

Unable to get to the hotel door in the car, Eddie explained he got out and wheeled the case to the door.

However the star was stopped by a student who recognised him. Posing for a selfie, Eddie joked: ‘I could feel the sweat dripping down my face as I realised I had this rifle on my person.’

After managing to get to the hotel, he took an hour constructing the rifle in his hotel room as he practiced with the prop and it wasn’t until later he realised his mistake.

‘I was in the midst of eating some goulash and I suddenly went ‘Argh’ as I realised that I had left this gigantic sniper’s rifle and the hotel was basically the equivalent of Trafalgar Square. So it was pointing out a window and it was about to be the turndown service.

‘I remember running down the corridor and the person that works in the hotel pushing down the towels [trolley] and some extra little toiletries and I just barged through the door and deconstructed this thing.

‘Otherwise that could have been a moment because it looked pretty persuasive.’

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He joked: ‘I was in the midst of eating some goulash and I suddenly went ‘Argh’ as I realised that I had left this gigantic sniper’s rifle in the hotel’

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Eddie’s character Jackal soon meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence offer played by Lashana Lynch (pictured)

The Day Of The Jackal premiered on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Thursday, but the thriller series has received mixed reviews from critics.

Some have hailed the reboot as ‘truly compelling’ while others branded it ‘dull and pointless’.

The Telegraph claimed the 21st century reboot was ‘truly compelling’ as they assessed Eddie’s character.

Jasper Rees rated the series a star rating of four out of five and wrote: ‘The main event of the chase is prone to misfire and mid-story sag. Still, the otherness of Redmayne compels.’

While the Irish Independent claimed The Day Of The Jackal is ‘long and baggy’ and has too many ‘uninteresting characters’.

Pat Stacey wrote: ‘This Day of the Jackal is… well, not. It’s long and it’s baggy, with too many uninteresting characters, too many tedious domestic scenes, and the usual overblown and unbelievable shootouts and car chases.’

Meanwhile, Rebecca Cook from Digital Spy said The Day Of The Jackal is a ‘compulsive but conventional watch’.