Jake Friedken is typically in total control, but today he’s not keeping it together. “I’m holding on by the skin of my teeth,” he says in the trailer for Black Rabbit. “I didn’t budget for you.”
Jake, played by Jude Law, is speaking to his brother Vince, played by Jason Bateman. Created by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman, Black Rabbit is the story of a New York restaurant (for which the series is named), but it’s really the story of these two brothers, one buttoned up and the other screwed up. When Vince returns to town after years away, he drags Jake down to his level: the scuzzy underbelly of the city that never sleeps. Soon, as you can see in the trailer above, his financial mismanagement has jeopardized the future of Black Rabbit — and his relationship with his brother.
Baylin and Susman (who executive produce the limited series alongside Law and Bateman) began with Black Rabbit and then dove into the relationship between Jake and Vince. “We just started talking about setting a TV show in a restaurant — a scene we’ve always been captivated and intoxicated by — and what would that mean as a backdrop,” Susman tells Netflix. “Then we got to talking about characters and brothers. We both have siblings and were interested in exploring the idea that you’re one person with your sibling and someone else in the world; and that no matter what you do or where you go in life, your childhood dynamic can be really hard to escape.”
Bateman was immediately attracted to the complicated sibling dynamic. “This two-hander where there’s conflict built into the relationship with an undeniable bond is what captured me,” Bateman says. “Not to mention the fact that it’s Jude Law who’s playing my brother. I’m an enormous fan of his; his career, the choices he’s made, the people he’s chosen to work with both in front and behind the camera.”
Before Bateman and Law started shooting, there was an important decision to be made: Who would play whom? “When Jude and I were first talking about our roles, there wasn’t a decision yet about who was going to play which part,” Bateman says. “We both agreed that I usually play the character that he’s playing: the one who doesn’t make bad decisions all the time. Wouldn’t it be interesting if I didn’t play that character this time?”
Adds Law, “On the page, Vince is volatile, unpredictable, he has this reputation for blowing things up literally and emotionally. He’s troubled, but he’s also brilliant. And what’s extraordinary is, of course, Jason brings to it this innocence, this beautiful likability. The fact is, you understand why this guy gets away with it.”
Black Rabbit also stars Cleopatra Coleman, Amaka Okafor, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Troy Kotsur, with Abbey Lee, Chris Coy, Dagmara Dominczyk, Forrest Weber, Odessa Young and Robin De Jesus.
Black Rabbit hits Netflix on Sep. 18. You won’t want to miss this party.
