Jude Law and his producing partner Ben Jackson have been on plenty of film sets, absorbing lessons from masters including Anthony Minghella (“Cold Mountain”) and Steven Soderbergh (“Side Effects”).
But for Law, Jackson and their production company, Riff Raff Entertainment, their new Netflix limited series “Black Rabbit,” debuting Sept. 18, marks a big step: It’s their first episodic TV effort produced from inception.
Created by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman, the eight-episode series stars Law as the ambitious owner of a New York hot spot whose life is thrown into turmoil when his drug- and gambling-addicted brother, played by Jason Bateman, comes back into the business. It’s a sort of grim and gritty Cain-and-Abel story for the restaurant scene, complete with debt-collecting goons, severed digits and armed robbery.
“It was a slice of New York life that we felt we both knew,” Law said by video from London. “What I loved was the fraternal heartbeat in its center and the question it raised: How far does one go for someone you love?”
Founded in 2017, Riff Raff locked in millions of dollars in financing from venture firm Calculus Capital about three years ago to expand its development slate and hire additional executives.
Law isn’t going to lie. It can be easier for him to sell a movie or TV series he has in development when he’s planning to star in it.
But simply making vehicles for the “Talented Mr. Ripley” actor isn’t all he and Jackson have in mind for Riff Raff. Of the dozens of projects the firm has in development, only a handful have the actor attached. Upcoming efforts include a Sharon Horgan-scripted romantic drama film, a historical drama from Justin Kuritzkes and a major TV drama by writer Jonathan Glatzer.
The five-person Riff Raff is based primarily in London but has a growing presence in Los Angeles, where Jackson spends half his time. Previous credits include the 2024 thriller “The Order” and the 2021 drama “True Things.”
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
Why did you want to make this show, “Black Rabbit”?”
Jude Law: “Black Rabbit” is a very good example of what we hoped to build and foster in the company. It came out of relationships that we had forged. So in this example, Zach Baylin, whom we’ve worked with on “The Order,” had mentioned this idea for a show he had with his partner, Kate Susman, and passed it on to Ben. It felt familiar, and yet it felt like there was fresh territory being covered.
Ben Jackson: It also felt that there could be something incredibly cinematic about this piece as well, which is something that as a company we really want to bring to any TV we do.
Law: We were very much along for the ride on “The Young Pope” and “The New Pope,” learning as young producers. But with this, being front and center and really being able to steer it and relish what episodic TV offers you. … If you trust the map you have, and you trust the team around you, that’s a very exciting creative situation to be in. And that was a really wonderful experience for Ben and me to flex a new muscle as producers in the driver’s seat.
What learnings did you pick up from “The Young Pope” and “The New Pope?”
Law: I mentioned those two because we were fortunate enough to have a producer credit. But I would honestly credit every set and every director that Ben and I have been on a set with for the last 20-odd years together. You learn pretty quickly what you think works and what you think doesn’t work. One of the reasons Ben and I ended up creating the company was the inspiration we drew from our experiences of being on a set with Anthony Minghella or Steven Soderbergh.
Jackson: There’s no better way of learning anything than doing it. It’s osmosis. Everybody makes mistakes, but you see how things work. The late, great Anthony Minghella — whose set I first worked on with “Cold Mountain” — had this overriding sense of family. Everybody was included. Everybody had a role to play.
Having Troy Kotsur as a menacing bad guy in the show was pretty interesting, given that I think a lot of people know him as the dad from “CODA.”
Law: I wish one of us could take responsibility for that brilliant choice. It actually came while Zach was on the Academy campaign trail for “King Richard.” His path crossed with Troy, who was similarly attending those events for “CODA.” I think Troy suggested it. They talked about potential roles and Troy said, “I would love to play a really bad guy.” And that germinated in Zach’s imagination, and he wrote a wonderful role for Troy. But Troy turned up and absolutely delivered. There’s an incredible intensity and stillness, and I think we all learned a huge amount from working with him.
What’s different about Riff Raff and what you guys are trying to do here with this company?
Law: Like most other companies, we’re trying to make great work. We’re trying to empower people we believe in and are inspired by to make great work. This has always been, for me personally, an opportunity to stretch my input into filmmaking beyond what I do in front of the camera. At the same time, I really appreciate and love the potential of having a company where it’s allowed me as an actor to hold the reins a little firmer and introduce roles that I think the marketplace might not associate me with. But so many of these projects have their own legs, and our aim is to build a brand that people go to because they enjoy our output, not because it’s attached to me.
Jackson: I think there’s a danger when you have a talent-led company, where people say, oh, well, if it’s his company, we know what we’re going to get. And I think our goal is to make sure that it’s eclectic.
With “Black Rabbit,” were you always attached to play Jake, the brother who owns the restaurant?
Law: I was absolutely attached, but …my focus was in the belief of the whole piece. And you know what it was, even when we went to Jason and we were interested in asking him to come on board and for him to direct, I think I had the idea: “Well, shouldn’t Jason be the brother?” But I wasn’t sure at the time whether I was Vince or Jake. And so, yeah, that conversation was had quite late in the day. You know, there was plenty of time for us to learn our lines and swap costumes.
Jason’s a good choice because he’s done the dirtbag kind of guy before. Even in “Arrested Development,” he’s got a bit of a mean streak.
Law: But he does it with an incredible — uh, wink, yeah — humor and humanity, which is a very hard nuance to pull off.
How much has the company grown over the years?
Law: Ben really changed it all in that it was sort of being financed by myself. We were doing it over my kitchen table on the hoof. And I think he realized we had to make the leap and really decide whether we were going to make a go of it or not. And it was a vital decision to make, and we were fortunate enough to find funding, and fortunate enough, therefore, to be able to broaden the team. And then obviously, first-look deals give us some firepower to develop and produce, and the team has just empowered us to embark on sourcing the slate.
Jackson: We’re also very aware of what our limits are. We don’t want to be a company that’s going around going, “Oh, that’s an issue, but we’ll option that,” and then it sits there, going nowhere. It’s a lot of work put into developing anything, and so you’ve all got to be on board. Otherwise, things drift. Momentum is key in this industry. You need to keep things moving.
What’s the market like right now from your perspective in terms of getting things greenlit?
Law: I think the problem is nobody knows. You have to have conviction in what you’re trying to say. If you have a writer with a great track record, or a director with a great track record, there’s a certain amount of, “Look, I’ve done it before, I can do it again.” But even then everyone is second-guessing right up to the end. It’s just a case of nudging it forward without losing sight of the reason you all got on board in the first place and not budgeting yourself into a position where you’re putting too much pressure on yourselves.
I go back to relationships, building relationships with the people you can trust, as distributors, who you know will have your back, or a company like Netflix, which has had our back on this from day one.
Jackson: You have to be adaptable. I think there’s no finite formula for making a successful film or show. Does it fit the world we live in right now? No one knows. I think what you have to be is you have to be committed to what you’re doing.
What’s the right level of activity for the company?
Law: Well, that’s hard to say. But we have a slate of 30-plus projects.
Having now really got a good foothold with the team that we’ve been allowed to assemble in the U.K., we’re very keen to purchase a more significant foothold in the U.S. Ben spends half his time there, and we’re hoping to just build. I think recognizing the bridge between the U.K. and the U.S. markets is very important.
Well, studios are making so many of their productions in the U.K. these days.
Law: So much so that it’s almost impossible to get crew and studio space, so it’s possible that we may end up in Budapest, Prague or Berlin.
What other projects are you excited about?
Law: Something that we’ve been developing with Justin Kuritzkes (“Challengers”), based loosely on the documentary “Best of Enemies,” is a very exciting script that we’re putting together. It was interesting, the new book on William F. Buckley Jr. just came out, and all the reviews are talking about his influence on the current Republican Party, which is something we spotted a while back.
Is there any sort of through line for what you find yourselves drawn to?
Law: It’s a really good question. I hope that I have demonstrated through the choices I’ve made as an actor that I find most genres and most forms of storytelling interesting. I’ve really relished being in big-budget, heavy IP [intellectual property] pieces and working on tiny independents. I hope the company will reflect that. I hope our signature is quality.
Stuff we wrote
Number of the week
$3.67 billion
The summer box office totaled an unimpressive $3.67 billion in ticket sales from May through Labor Day, down slightly from last year’s similarly soft tally and way below prepandemic levels, when grosses typically exceeded $4 billion.
That’s bad. Blame a lack of true blockbusters, streaming, shortened theatrical windows and an over-reliance on aging franchises. Read Samantha Masunaga’s story for more on the winners and losers.
Finally …
Listen: Cass McCombs, “Interior Live Oak”; The Beths, “Straight Line Was a Lie.”