Apple
Natalie Portman’s debut television role gave her a unique opportunity to explore intersectionality and oppression through the lens of a crime drama set in the 1960s.
The Academy Award winner explained that her role as Jewish investigative journalist Maddie Schwartz in the upcoming limited series Lady in the lakewhich premiered on Apple TV+ on July 19, presented an “interesting” topic in asking “what happens when oppressed people oppress others.”
“It is possible to be both oppressed and oppressor,” Portman said The guard“And that sometimes, when we’re looking for our own freedom, we don’t realize that we’re putting someone else’s life in danger.”
Based on the 2019 novel by Laura Lippman, Lady in the lake follows Maddie, a Baltimore housewife turned journalist who becomes obsessed with the mystery of two separate murders: 11-year-old Jewish girl Tessie Fine (Bianca Belle) and hardworking black activist and mother Cleo Sherwood (Moses Ingram).
“In that period and in her community, that role was something she really wanted to be freed from,” Portman said of Maddie’s life as a dutiful Jewish housewife, noting that for Maddie and Cleo, liberation “is something that unites their stories.”
Natalie Portman in ‘Lady in the Lake’. (Apple TV+/Courtesy of Everett Collection)
Meanwhile, Maddie’s use of Cleo’s death to further her own career aspirations poses a moral dilemma. “It’s definitely questionable,” Portman said. “You could definitely argue that she’s a villain.”
Portman noted that as a journalist, “other people’s lives are her material, and the question is whether that’s inherently morally problematic. You’re supposed, as a journalist, to tell a story — not to think about how it might affect that person’s life if you do that.”
Although the Israeli-born actress was “excited to explore the character” as her first TV show, she was hesitant to offer her thoughts on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. “How I think about it, unfortunately, requires a lot more space than we have to discuss,” Portman said.
Portman and Sophie Mas serve as executive producers on Lady in the lake through their MountainA banner’s deal with Apple, which was created and directed by Alma Har’el.