‘Lady in the Lake’: Natalie Portman & Moses Ingram on Maddie’s Flaws & Cleo’s Drive to Survive (VIDEO)

One murder mystery reached a devastating conclusion, while another piled on the intrigue in the two-episode July 19 premiere of this noir thriller. The seven-part series is based on Laura Lippman’s novel inspired by a pair of real-life murders in 1965 Baltimore.

Ahead of the next five episodes of Lady in the Lake, we spoke with the writer/director Alma Har’el and the cast. (Watch the video above for the interview.) To recap, in the opener, repressed Jewish housewife Maddie Schwarz (Natalie Portman) found the body of a local little girl, whose killer was arrested. Maddie also crossed paths with the woman we learned from voiceover will have her own life cut short, Black mom Cleo Sherwood (Moses Ingram) who was working as a department store window mannequin. (See the actresses talk about shooting that scene in this video.)

By the end of the premiere, Cleo had become unknowingly mixed up in an assassination attempt and it seemed only a matter of time before the criminals would move to keep her quiet. We don’t want to see that happen, but we know it’s inevitable. Maddie will use the death to further her longed-for career in journalism. “Part of Maddie’s many flaws is that she sees this woman’s tragedy as her opportunity and it’s callous and self-serving, but also unfortunately a very, very common kind of behavior where someone feels that they can use someone else’s story to make their own name,” says Portman.

The next chapter of Maddie’s story will include a passionate affair. Having left her husband and living solo (and very broke!) in the premiere, she staged a break-in, hoping to collect insurance money. She was clearly attracted to the handsome Black cop who answered her call, Ferdie Platt (Y’lan Noel). Noel explains the magnetic pull between them. “He’s a good cop amongst the community of not-so-good cops. He’s also looking to be a detective. Maddie at the same time is looking to ascend in her professional ranks. The fact that they’re pursuing their dreams is what brings them together. Ferdie sees in Maddie this relentlessness that he has.”

Related

'Lady in the Lake' Stars Take Us Inside That Eerie Department Store Scene (VIDEO)

Cleo has that relentlessness, too, but her road has been harder than Maddie’s. Ingram reflects on her character’s drive to survive: “When you’re a kid, it is hard to imagine that there might come a day where you don’t dream as much or as fervently as you used to, and life has a real way of sticking it to you,” the actress says. “I think Cleo many times has gotten the short end of the stick, and I think if it weren’t for her children, she might have a reason not to hold on this tightly.”

Watch the video above to hear more.

Lady in the Lake, Fridays, Apple TV+