Jude Law and Jason Bateman Weren’t Sure Which Brother They’d Play When ‘Black Rabbit’ Started

Netflix’s “Black Rabbit” hopped to the Toronto International Film Festival, where stars Jason Bateman and Jude Law admitted they didn’t initially know who would play which brother at the center of the series when they first started developing the show.

The new series, created by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman, follows two brothers – Jake (Law), a successful restauranteur in New York City, and his brother Vince (Bateman), who is constantly in trouble and who re-enters Jake’s life with a ton of baggage. It functions both as a relentless, edge-of-your-seat thriller and also as a tender exploration of complex familial dynamics and the relationships that make us who we are.

Before the series premieres on the streaming platform on September 18, the stars and creators stopped by TIFF to talk with TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman about the new series and what makes it so special.

Perhaps the biggest surprise that came out of TheWrap’s conversation with the group is that Bateman and Law, who had worked with Baylin on last year’s underrated “The Order,” weren’t sure, initially, which brother they were going to play. What makes this so shocking is that, in “Black Rabbit,” Bateman and Law don’t just play these characters, they inhabit them.

Law, who was involved early in the project and would remain a producer, knew that he wanted Bateman, as both an actor and as a producer/director (Bateman directs the first two episodes).

“It seemed became apparent that, of course, he should play one of the brothers. I don’t remember if it was decided beforehand who was going to play which brother,” said Law.

“We knew,” said Susman.

“You always had me as Vince?” asked Bateman.

Baylin said that he loved Bateman’s performance in “State of Play,” a 2009 political thriller that starred Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams and Helen Mirren, and were inspired to cast him in “Black Rabbit” because of it. (“Oh right, that creep,” Bateman said.)

“There’s so much tension in that performance and I’m like, I want to see more of this,” said Baylin.

“Our initial conversations, I don’t think the roles had been decided on yet, as I seem to remember it. I usually play the part that Jude plays in this and Jude has a much more textured body of work out there where he’s played Vince, he’s played Jake, he’s played Vince,” Bateman explained. “I think I said, ‘Well, I haven’t played the Vince part in stuff as often as you have, so maybe it would be more interesting if I play that because I’ve kind of got an angle on that as I’ve read this.’ And I seem to remember he said, ‘Great, yeah.’”

And thus the brothers of “Black Rabbit” – in all their dysfunctional, egotistical, maniacal glory – were decided.

Catch up on all of TheWrap’s TIFF coverage here.