The Academy Awards winning actresses behind Padme Amidala and Maz Kanata have joined forces for a new project. Natalie Portman and Lupita Nyong’o will star in and executive produce Lady in the Lake, a new series set to premiere on Apple TV+.
“Lady in the Lake” is an adaptation of Laura Lippman’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name. The limited series takes place in ’60s Baltimore, where an unsolved murder pushes housewife and mother Maddie Schwartz (Portman) to reinvent her life as an investigative journalist and sets her on a collision course with Cleo Sherwood (Nyong’o), a hard-working woman juggling motherhood, many jobs and a passionate commitment to advancing Baltimore’s Black progressive agenda.
“Lady in the Lake,” produced by Crazyrose and Bad Wolf America, is executive produced by Har’el alongside producing partner Christopher Leggett through her new production company, Zusa. In addition to starring, Portman and Nyong’o will serve as executive producers on the series, alongside Portman’s producing partner Sophie Mas. Crazyrose principals Jean-Marc Vallée and Nathan Ross will also serve as executive producers, and Julie Gardner will executive produce for Bad Wolf America. Author Laura Lippman and Dre Ryan will also executive produce on the project. Endeavor Content is the studio.
“Lady in the Lake” marks Natalie Portman’s first foray into television, as well as Alma Har’el’s first television project. Har’el’s most recent film, “Honey Boy,” won her the Sundance 2019 Special Jury Directing Award for Craft and Vision, received four Independent Spirit Awards nominations including Best Director, and made her the first woman to win the DGA Award for First-Time Feature Film. She is also the first woman in DGA Awards history to be nominated for both commercial directing (2018) and narrative directing (2020).
