A Rabbit’s Foot #6

Welcome to Issue 6 of A RABBITS FOOT— our first ‘special issue’ and an ode to cinema and speed. Inside these pages you’ll find interviews with Michael Mann, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Franc Rodham, Nia DaCosta, Jeff Nichols, Danny Lyon, and many more incredible artists.

This issue then is for those of you with a passion for motorised magic, and a reminder of some of the great movies where cars or bikes play a central role. I didn’t include Bullitt, the Peter Yeats classic starring Steve McQueen, as everyone always includes that movie. In myheart though, Bullitt is right there. Time and space has not even allowed for a Producer’s section, which would certainly be led by my friend Eric Fellner, who produced Senna, Lauda, and Baby Driver. Eric is even more of a car nut than me.

We also celebrate petrolhead filmmakers—whose works are associated with cars or the road. You can read interviews with Michael Mann, Alexander Payne, Jeff Nichols, Franc Roddam, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and Jeremy Thomas, who between them have made some of the great road classics. In these pages, we pay homage to the late William Friedkin, who we had planned to interview but sadly passed away. He was a true master and visionary, and we pay special tribute with three essays that delve into three of his films.

Elsewhere in the issue, Patrick Dempsey, recently voted Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine, shares insight into his racing career and starring in Michael Mann’s terrific Ferrari movie. Sam Murphy writes about the fascinating Isadora Duncan, the magnetic dancer whose demise came at the hand of a Bugatti wheel. He also pens a piece about the Japanese anime film Akira and the true story of how the Bosozoku biker gangs of post-war Tokyo inspired the work.