Eddie Redmayne was so keen to perfect his latest role as an elite contract killer that he underwent weapons training from a former Army sniper.

But the actor has confessed that he accidentally took his preparations a little too far, by smuggling a concealed – if fake – rifle through an East European police cordon.

In the forthcoming Sky TV reboot of the Frederick Forsyth thriller The Day Of The Jackal, Redmayne plays an international assassin whose weapons include a ‘quite staggering’ rifle that can be taken apart and hidden in a suitcase.

To prepare for the role, the 42-year-old had to learn how to construct and deconstruct the weapon effortlessly, so took the realistic looking prop off set and back to his hotel in Budapest, Hungary,to practise.

But on the way back he encountered a student demonstration, which meant he had to cross police lines with the fake rifle.

Eddie Redmayne as the elusive lone assassin the Jackal in The Day Of The Jackal. The actor has revealed that he smuggled a fake rifle through a Hungarian police cordon
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Eddie Redmayne as the elusive lone assassin the Jackal in The Day Of The Jackal. The actor has revealed that he smuggled a fake rifle through a Hungarian police cordon

In the reboot of the Frederick Forsyth thriller, Redmayne plays the international assassin whose weapons include a ¿quite staggering¿ rifle that can be taken apart and hidden in a suitcase
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In the reboot of the Frederick Forsyth thriller, Redmayne plays the international assassin whose weapons include a ‘quite staggering’ rifle that can be taken apart and hidden in a suitcase

Redmayne as The Jackal. He recalled he was forced to cross police lines with the weapon in Budapest while a student demonstration was ongoing
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Redmayne as The Jackal. He recalled he was forced to cross police lines with the weapon in Budapest while a student demonstration was ongoing

He recalled: ‘There was a massive protest going on and hundreds of police so my car couldn’t get close. I had to get out and walk past the police with a case that basically contained a sniper rifle.’

And he feared he might be found out when one of the protesters recognised him.

‘They got excited and said: “It’s Eddie Redmayne! Can we do a selfie?’’ Then the police noticed, and all the photographers stopped taking photos of the protest and started photographing me instead. I was genuinely horrified.’

Back at the hotel he spent a while practising with the weapon before going down for dinner.

He told The Telegraph: ‘Then I realised, uh oh, I need to go back and take it apart, because whoever comes in to do the turn-down service was going to find this massive sniper rifle sitting on the bed.’