Natalie Portman’s Jewish Role In ‘Lady In The Lake’ Made Her Consider How “Oppressed People Oppress Others”

Apple

Natalie Portman‘s first television role gave her a unique opportunity to explore intersectionality and oppression through the lens of a 1960s-set crime drama.

The Academy Award winner explained that her role as Jewish investigative journalist Maddie Schwartz in the upcoming limited series Lady in the Lake, premiering July 19 on Apple TV+, presented an “interesting” topic in the question of “what happens when oppressed people oppress others.”

“It’s possible to be both oppressed and oppressor,” Portman told The Guardian. “And that sometimes when we’re looking for our own freedom, we don’t realise we’re stepping on someone else’s life.”

Based on the 2019 novel by Laura Lippman, Lady in the Lake follows Maddie, a Baltimore housewife-turned-journalist who becomes fixated on the mystery of two seperate killings: 11-year-old Jewish girl Tessie Fine (Bianca Belle) and hardworking Black activist and mother Cleo Sherwood (Moses Ingram).

“In that period and her community, that role is very much something she wanted freedom from,” said Portman of Maddie’s life as a dutiful Jewish housewife, noting that for Maddie and Cleo, liberation “is something that unites their stories.”

Meanwhile, Maddie using Cleo’s death to further her own career aspirations presents a moral dilemma. “It’s definitely questionable,” said Portman. “You could certainly make an argument that she’s a villain.”

Portman noted that as a journalist, “other people’s lives are her material, and there’s a question whether that’s inherently morally problematic. You’re supposed to, as a journalist, tell a story – not be thinking about how it might affect that person’s life if you do.”

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 Israel-Hamas war. “How I feel about it requires a lot more space than we have to discuss, unfortunately,” said Portman.

Portman and Sophie Mas serve as executive producers on Lady in the Lake through their MountainA banner’s first-look TV deal with Apple, which is created and directed by Alma Har’el.