Jude Law Reveals His First Impression of ‘Black Rabbit’ Costar Jason Bateman (Exclusive)

Jude Law has nothing but kind words for his Black Rabbit costar Jason Bateman.

Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE at the Netflix show’s New York City premiere at the SVA Theatre on Tuesday, Sept. 16, Law, 52, shared his first impression of Bateman, 56, before filming even began.

“Honestly, for about a year and a half, we only met on Zoom when we were in the writing room or taking notes and giving notes on the scripts as they were being developed,” he shares of the Arrested Development alum.

The Star Wars: Skeleton Crew actor praises Bateman for giving “great notes” and being “incredibly astute [and] funny” throughout the “very collaborative process” of making the show.

“I knew he would be funny and smart,” he gushes. “He’s very Jason Bateman.”

Law’s producing partner through Riff Raff Entertainment, Ben Jackson, also heaped praise onto Bateman, calling him “incredibly professional and prepared.”

“I mean, you imagine that when you go into something knowing his work, but seeing that at firsthand … was very impressive,” Jackson adds.

Law and Bateman play brothers on Black Rabbit, with Law playing the charismatic Jake Friedken, the owner of the titular restaurant and bar in New York City, and Bateman playing Vince Friedken, who returns to the family business bringing chaos and trouble with him.

The show’s synopsis teases that the brothers “are pushed to the brink by their duty to family and their pursuit of success” during the eight-episode series.

Law previously opened up to PEOPLE about filming Black Rabbit with Bateman, comparing the experience to “playing a sport.”

“It’s very hard to describe. It’s like you’re playing a sport, but you’re not trying to beat the other person, but you’re trying to raise their game,” he told PEOPLE at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Black Rabbit premiered on Saturday, Sept. 6.

“And you are pushing the practice thinking, ‘If I go this far, am I allowed to do this? Are you allowed to do that?’ It was pretty clear, pretty quickly, that we were on the same page,” Law added while speaking at the PEOPLE/EW and Shutterstock studio at TIFF.

Law also said he “didn’t have to” try to build a bond with Bateman away from the cameras because the scripts were so well-written and everything was on the page, sharing, “We went out for dinner once before we started shooting and then we were straight in.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.  

Black Rabbit premieres on Netflix on Thursday, Sept. 18.