In Netflix’s Black Rabbit, the owner of a hot New York restaurant (Jude Law) allows his troubled brother (Jason Bateman) to return to the family business, opening the door to old traumas and new dangers. Emmy-winning editor Vikash Patel, who’s worked with Bateman in the past, cut four of the series’ eight episodes, including the pilot. Here, he shares details on his work for the series.
This is not the first time you have worked with Jason Bateman. How has your collaboration been like throughout the years, and what has it been like on Black Rabbit?
“Jason and I met in 2016 on the first season of Ozark, and established a great working relationship throughout all four seasons of the show. The success of our collaboration over the years really stems from sharing similar tastes and sensibilities. Jason very much appreciates all the work that I do on the front end, both in terms of picture and sound. Knowing how well we work together, he trusted me to come on board Black Rabbit, to edit four out of the eight episodes, including the pilot and the finale. Editing the pilot played an important role in building the foundation for how the story was going to be told and cemented Jason’s visual aesthetic, which then allowed me to have creative freedom to push the boundaries in the final two episodes, taking them to new heights! Due to our established relationship, Jason and (EP) Michael (Costigan) were also interested in me playing a larger role on the series, given its nonlinear structure, observing it all from ‘30,000 feet.’”
What were some of the needs of the show and the stylistic choices that had to be considered?
“The series was beautifully conceived by Kate Susman and Zach Baylin, and given the pedigree of talent in front of and behind the camera, the bar was set very high in honoring the text. Firmly establishing the tone and visual aesthetic from the first frame was important. Visually, Jason and (DP) Igor (Martinovic) set a look that was raw, dirty and messy at times in framing and camera operating. They were also embracing a handheld camera style with in-camera zooms.
“My editing approach was definitely fueled by the storytelling and those visual choices. I was constantly evaluating ways to elevate the material, aiming to heighten the drama and anxiety the characters felt. Two good examples are the robbery in the pilot and the scene outside the casino, where Vince runs over the burly guy in the parking lot. My approach was to make these scenes feel messy by being frenetic in my cutting patterns, overlapping dialogue, using jump cuts, and adding subtle four to five frame digital snap zooms to complement the photography.
“Jason and Jude were deliberately adding a lot of ad-libs to their dialogue, and it was a conscious effort on their parts to talk over each other, making the scenes feel grounded and natural. I wanted to embrace this and create the same effect for scenes that were not so deliberately performed: dialogue stepping on each other, adding background sounds to make you feel uneasy, and consciously not protecting the dialogue in the final mix. This ‘rough around the edges’ approach should elevate the anxiety for the audience.”
What was your workflow like, and what editing system did you use?
“The entire series was shot in NYC. We primarily shot on the Sony Venice 2 and Sony Burano in 8K at 2:1 aspect 24fps. Our dailies team, Picture Shop, would facilitate dailies to be sent from New York to Los Angeles, where our cutting rooms were. An interesting process in our workflow is that the dailies team would apply live grain to the footage that was sent by our DP daily, depending on the look and timeline of the scene. We also had some 16mm black & white film footage that was scanned back into the Avid for a fun ’90s music video that appears in Episode 2. The entire show was cut using Avid Media Composer 2018 in Los Angeles.
“In terms of our editing workflow, Jason prefers coming into the editing room. This way, we can feel and discuss the work at hand. His director's cuts took place over weekends, given his acting duties during the week. With the final two episodes, I worked remotely with Justin Kurzel from Tasmania.
“Also, throughout the series, I was in constant communication with both Cedric (Nairn-Smith) and
Kyle (Reiter), the other editors on the project. We would review each other's work, share ideas and offer any creative insights that would be beneficial. A good example of this is the robbery from the pilot. With it being replayed in Episode 6, Cedric and I discussed that there was no merit in replaying this scene from the same POV, so he needed to offer a fresh perspective and make the scene his own. We talked about first grounding the audience back to the moment they had already witnessed in the pilot, but now taking over and showing different beats of the same scene. Additionally, I was acutely aware of keeping stylistic continuity throughout the series and maintaining consistency, especially since many of those choices were established in the pilot. Staying invested in the other episodes, and in constant communication with the other editors was helpful in tracking the story and making the show feel cohesive.”
How did the pilot come together?
“Truthfully, the pilot came together very easily. Jason and I had early conversations about what he was striving for. He suggested I watch a few movies (Uncut Gems, You Were Never Really Here) and we discussed temp score, and how he wanted it to have a very internal feel - noises, abstract, objects, repetition. After about three to four weeks, I had curated a nice library, all sourced from European soundscape artists. Personally, I’m not a fan of using iconic scores, as I feel they pull me out of a scene. Instead, ideally, tracking with these pieces that I had curated would make the show feel unique, elevating the experience until the episodes were locked and scored by our composers. I was deliberate in my score choices for our main characters, which was helpful in distinguishing their character traits: Jake being more measured and Vince being unhinged. Linking these with specific pieces of temp score was valuable.
“Jason also preps meticulously, and is confident and economical in his approach. My job was to lean into what was being sent from set, being bold with my choices, and trusting the relationship that I have. He loves to be surprised, so typically he doesn’t send me notes and never requests to see scenes. He’s always curious about my interpretation of a scene, even if his intent was different. The strongest version always wins.”
What was the biggest challenge of working on Black Rabbit?
“For me, the biggest challenge was doing justice to the final two episodes. The scripts were fantastic, and having cut the first two episodes and knowing what was to follow, I had the pressure of making sure the ending was going to land satisfactorily. Honoring the characters I helped introduce in the pilot and that we had all been shaping over the last several months was deeply important.
“The challenge for the final two episodes was mining through all the dailies I was receiving, typically four to five hours daily. Justin Kurzel also had a different directing approach for these episodes - everything was shot with two or three cameras, handheld, very much verité style. No two takes were ever the same, even in a simple two-person conversation, making this an exercise in trusting my instincts, which often led to being painted into a corner, and then figuring out how the hell I was going to get myself out!
“As an editor, I enjoy offering a strong POV, so when it came to assembling these final two episodes, I was respectful of the script, but there were times I took liberties, either shuffling the scene order or occasionally removing a scene that I felt was redundant. My desire was never to let the tension deflate as the action ramps up. In the finale, when we find Jake being held in the car with Mancusso and Babbit, and eventually rescuing Vince from outside the Plank, I found it additive to intercut this much more than what was on the page, ratcheting up the tension. The challenge was to make these final episodes feel like they were an extension of the pilot, whilst honoring Justin’s vision. Justin’s initial response to my editor's cut was, ‘Kind of fantastic how you just went for it and did a cut rather than an assembly!’
“Having the trust and confidence from Jason, allows me to take a full swing in my approach in putting an episode together. This speaks volumes to our working relationship!”
Can you walk us through another sequences or two that you would call attention to?
“There are many scenes that I could talk about, but my favorite scenes were always ones with Jason and Jude. In particular, there is a scene in Episode 8, when Vince and Jake return to the Black Rabbit. It’s the first time they are back at the crime scene, and Vince is feeling the horrors of the crime he had committed the previous evening. This scene was challenging as it had multiple beats, embedded with so much backstory. First and foremost, I always remind myself to be sensitive to the material, and specifically for this scene, it was imperative that I stay true to that. There was zero desire on my part to get in the way. Both Jason and Jude were acting their socks off!
“It’s a very emotional scene between two siblings, loaded with guilt and secrets. We start the scene with Vince being reminded of what he had done the night before. Lingering with him at the top of this scene, quiet and isolated, giving the audience time to process the internal turmoil he’s feeling. He understands that there is no way out of this situation and starts to question whether to end his life. I was moved by Jason’s performance in one particular take, and given my strong reaction, I elected to build the entire scene from this. Vince and Jake were hiding secrets from each other, and both of them deserved the appropriate screen time. It’s Vince’s confession that reveals Jake’s secret of knowing all along that he had killed his father, and that was a big revelation for Vince. I was cognizant of making sure that Vince’s other motivation of being a protective older brother was being conveyed, and that he was navigating to give Jake his life back, free from the baggage of everything he had created. Fingers crossed, the audience catches the occasional glances upstairs from Vince, or the lingering beat with the cell phone. Tiny breadcrumbs of what’s to follow, ultimately leading to his death.”