It takes just one episode of Apple TV+ limited series “Lady in the Lake” to realize that this is far from a standard thriller . Created by Alma Har’el and adapted from Laura Lippman’s novel of the same name, it stars Natalie Portman as a Baltimore housewife-turned-investgative journalist who delves into the murder of a Black woman in 1960s Baltimore. The period piece takes that premise and develops it into an expressionistic character study that relies heavily on dream sequences to present a richer illustration of how the characters’ actions are informed by the subconscious.
During a recent IndieWire screening presented by Apple TV+ at Vidiots in Los Angeles, Har’el sat down with IndieWire editor-in-chief Dana Harris-Bridson to discuss the creative choices that led to the show’s dream-filled aesthetic. “I always feel like we all dream, we all go to sleep at night,” Har’el said. “And in many ways, a real, healthy brain doesn’t function without the dream.
And a real, healthy society doesn’t function, I feel, without looking into the things we hide from ourselves. So many people have a hard time with that, with validating their dreams and giving it the space that it needs. So I like centering it.
” While that ethos was part of Lippman’s book, Har’el and her team expanded it to explore the dreams of every major character. She said that while the novel did an excellent job of probing the psyche of Maddie Morgenstern (Natalie Portman), prominent Black characters didn’t receive the same attention. “I had this lofty wish that I shared with the writers in my writer’s room, who were all Black women and very much felt that the book never kind of gotten into Cleo and never allowed us to find out what she dreams about or what she wants,” Har’el said.
“It sort of used her story more to explore Maddie’s life, but not really tell her story. So it was an attempt to build on what the book did so greatly with Maddie and build a whole world where she’s not in the book.” “Lady in the Lake” is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Watch the complete conversation with Har’el in the video above..
