Meet The ‘Day Of The Jackal’ Espionage Advisor Who Found Himself At The Center Of A Viral Hollywood Moment

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: When Paul Biddiss left the army more than a decade ago, he could never have known that 10 years on he would be at the center of one of the viral Hollywood moments of the year.

Biddiss was espionage advisor on Peacock and Sky’s The Day of the Jackal, a role that was lauded earlier this month by Eddie Redmayne on the Graham Norton Show before the discussion led to Saoirse Ronan‘s withering – and mega-viral – putdown of her male sofa-sharers during a chat about the use of mobile phones for protection.

Paul Mescal, who had also worked recently with Biddiss on Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, joked about the ridiculousness of using a phone for protection, before Ronan shot him down, saying: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time.

Am I right ladies?” The incident has generated clicks aplenty and kickstarted a wider conversation about protection. After the excitement at being mentioned on primetime national TV had subsided, Biddiss told us his past experience advising on surveillance meant that he immediately concurred with Ronan. “I’ve always said that women are notoriously more surveillance aware and harder to track, because unfortunately they have to be,” said Biddiss. “They have to think about what they have to use in the event of someone pouncing on them.