The Lady in the Lake Stars Discuss Working With Natalie Portman & Moses Ingram

Summary Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram deliver powerful performances in Lady in the Lake, exploring trauma, gender, race, and privilege.

The series subverts expectations of a noir murder mystery, delving into complex themes while following Maddie's dangerous journey.

Byron Bowers, Y'lan Noel, and Josiah Cross discuss their characters' connections and dynamics in the gripping Apple TV+ show.

Maddie, a bored housewife, decides to leave her life behind and follow her long-dismissed dream of becoming a writer in Lady in the Lake. Spurred on by her curiosity about a missing young girl Maddie moves to Baltimore and begins connecting the dots while investigating not only this, but the mysterious lady in the lake. Maddie sets herself on a dangerous path that could prove deadly in ways she never could have imagined.

Lady in the Lake is led by Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram delivering incredible performances full of pathos, complicated depth, and an underlying darkness tied to trauma. Alma Har'el adapted the Laura Lippman novel of the same name, helming the series not only as creator, but directing all seven episodes. The new Apple TV+ series subverts expectations of a noir murder mystery, while exploring themes of gender, race, privilege, and injustice through both Portman and Ingram's characters' journeys.

Related New Apple TV+ Show Marks A Career First For Natalie Portman After 30 Years After 30 years in Hollywood, the incredibly prolific Academy Award-winning actor Natalie Portman is still having monumental career firsts in 2024.

Screen Rant interviewed Lady in the Lake stars Byron Bowers, Josiah Cross, and Insecure's Y'lan Noel. Noel discussed working with Portman and how his character, Ferdie, connects with her character Maddie. Bowers revealed how he connected with his character and Cross broke down the dynamic between his character Reggie and Ingram's character Cleo.

Y'lan Noel Praises Natalie Portman's Performance: "She's Incredible"

Noel described himself as "fortunate" to work with Portman, praising her acting abilities. He also shared what draws their characters together as both fall further down the rabbit hole of the mysteries at the center of the series.

Y'lan Noel: What I can tell you about Ferdie is he's an aspiring detective and because of the sort of murder mystery elements of our show, his arc intersects with both of our characters. In terms of Natalie, she's incredible. I was fortunate to work with her. Ferdie has a lot of admirable qualities. He's unwilling to compromise on any of the things that he's doing. He's ascending the ranks and hopefully it'll reverberate with the viewers.

Byron Bowers Shares His Connection To The Character Of Slappy: "I Am A Comedian"

Bowers explained how he connected with the character Slappy, especially in how it helped show a deeper side to Cleo's character. He also revealed how his determination to stick with the truth is a quality he not only shares with Maddie, but one that gets them both into trouble.

Byron Bowers: I am a comedian, one, and I help breathe life into this character, and this character is made to give Cleo depth. To show, to humanize a woman who is unseen, who stands in the window. Even in the book, she wasn't highlighted as much. We didn't know much about her. As far as his truth, I mean, that's what gets him in a lot of trouble. Sometimes truth get people in trouble like Maddie herself. So it's a loyalty in finding truth and sticking by it, and it is a faithfulness that comes with that. To me, that ties their relationship together of him being that type of husband also.

Josiah Breaks Down The Sibling Dynamic Between Reggie & Cleo

Image via Apple TV+

Cross revealed how the sibling dynamic between Reggie and Cleo creates unexpected conflict for him and the life he is stuck in. Reggie is tied to Shell Gordon, a dangerous gangster, and has set a path that leads him to question himself and how his connection to Cleo could impact her life.

Josiah Cross: I pointed that out earlier actually, that there's this sibling synergy between Cleo and Reggie. I think that like all siblings, you love your sister and sometimes you do things that you don't want to do or that you kind of aren't feeling because of your sibling. I think that out of necessity, his loyalty is something that brings him to a lot of his faults. Reggie, his unwillingness to kind of question Shell in a lot of ways when internally he's probably questioning himself, Should I be doing this? Does this hurt me or hurt Cleo in the long run? I think that the mystery behind Reggie is so interesting because in a lot of ways he's an anti-hero for a lot of the show. So I think audiences, they'll love the journey that kind of Reggie reveals in time.

About Lady In The Lake

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When the disappearance of a young girl grips the city of Baltimore in 1966, the lives of two women converge on a fatal collision course.

Check back soon for our other Lady in the Lake interview with Alma Har’el.

Lady in the Lake debuts on Apple TV+ on July 19.

Source: Screen Rant Plus