Netflix’s new star-powered thriller Black Rabbit kicks off with an all-too-familiar tease, flashing forward to promise that there’s danger ahead.
But before we get to the cliffhanger moment men in balaclavas fire a shot in New York’s hottest restaurant, we’re treated to what looks like an achingly cool night out at the Black Rabbit.
The hotspot is owned by rising restaurateur Jake (Jude Law), but is put on a collision course with mayhem when his brother Vince (Jason Bateman) returns to town with loan sharks hot on his heels.
Co-creators Zach Baylin (Oscar-nominated for writing King Richard) and Kate Susman told Metro how they found a New York filming location storied enough to live up to the restaurant’s reputation within the show.
It was only by chance that the locations manager scouted what is said to be the oldest restaurant in the city, older still than the Brooklyn Bridge (built in 1869), which it sits in the shadow of.
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‘We found stories about it in public archives, that it had been a brothel, that pirates drank there and when people first found it, there were severed limbs in jars dating back from its pirate days,’ Susman told us.
The lore-laden restaurant isn’t currently in operation, but the writers tried to package up the mood of the place and infuse its ‘pirate feeling’ into the fictitious Black Rabbit.
That wasn’t the only real-life inspiration for the show’s vibe; late purveyor of foodie culture Anthony Bourdain, and his effortlessly cool approach to restauranting, was also a touchstone.
Bourdain’s writing on people who populate restaurants – those ‘drawn to working nights, long hours, in frenetic, creative atmospheres’, says Baylin – forms the backdrop to all the brotherly drama. Nobody in the Black Rabbit gets much sleep. How can you, when each new day is spent recovering from the night before, while gearing up for the one ahead?
In this environment, it’s easy to see how someone like Bateman’s Vince – who’s addicted to just about everything going – both thrives and wreaks havoc.
The show was inspired by the 17 years Baylin and Susman, who are also married, spent living in New York. There, they became obsessed with the ‘anything-goes’ nighttime atmosphere, which only sobered up when the lights came on.
Baylin and Susman said the hotshot nightclub world was one they were largely on the periphery of. But Law had moved in these circles and been up close to the ‘performative showman’ nightclub impresarios, who are much like his character Jake.
It’s clear how large the Big Apple looms in the show – the co-creators at one point do the Sex and the City thing of referring to it as a character. But that didn’t make the city any more cooperative when it came to filming.
‘There are times where New York doesn’t really give a f*** about what’s happening around it,’ Baylin smiled. Even if the thing happening involves Hollywood A-listers like Law and Bateman.
He explained: ‘You can shut down the whole block and people are still going to walk right through it because they’ve gotta get to the subway and they don’t necessarily care that Jason or Jude are right there.’
While this run-and-gun shooting style added an ‘exciting energy’, with grumpy New Yorkers or Friday night revellers as accidental extras in scenes, it also presented the risk of moments being spoiled before the show’s release date.
Metro’s thoughts on Black Rabbit
Senior TV Reporter Rebecca Cook shares her take…
It’s the sibling dysfunction between Vince and Jake that gives this unlikely Netflix original a springboard to put it above your generic Uncut Gems-y crime thriller.
Despite Bateman having made a name playing the quintessential type A goodie-two-shoes, he is faultless as hurricane Vince.
Without that performance the show would run away from itself. The chaotic flow of the storylines might be intended to mimic the New York living experience, but it feels a bit like being shuttled from pillar to post on a jittery bus.
That being said, Black Rabbit has twists, style and star power. I’m sure a few kinks won’t deter viewers.
The solution? The production team made friends with the paparazzi. ‘You’re out there in the world, and don’t want that stuff to be captured,’ said Susman. ‘Everyone we worked with was game and agreed to save the photos.’
She continued: ‘We knew that we had to film there for it to feel real. I think there’s no other way to get that texture of what it really feels like to be in New York.
‘I’m so grateful, even though it’s a headache and there are all kinds of people wanting to be a part of your show in ways that maybe you wish they wouldn’t.
‘But it’s so worth it for the final product. The city is just so alive in the show.’
Black Rabbit is available to stream on Netflix.
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