Shooting on the set of Apple TV+ series Lady in the Lake paused Friday afternoon in downtown Baltimore to consider another type of shooting. According to reports, locals threatened that if production didn’t stop, they’d return with guns blazing. Unless producers paid them $50,000.
Taping on the limited crime drama series starring Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram shut down. But producers refused to pay. They opted to move locations instead.
Extortion threat halts Apple TV+ filming of Lady in the Lake series in Baltimore
“The leaders of the production decided to err on the side of caution and reschedule the shoot after they found another location,” a Baltimore Police Department spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday.
A police statement said “the locals” warned Lady in the Lake producers they would “come back later this evening [and] shoot someone” if filming continued on the 200 block of Park Avenue. The city residents also said they would “allow the production to continue” if they were paid $50,000, the Times reported.
On Saturday, the Baltimore Banner referred to the local residents who made the threat as “drug dealers” and reported that producers declined to pay them.
So far it appears representative from Apple TV+ and partner Endeavor Content haven’t commented on the incident.
Lady of the Lake is adapted from a bestselling novel of the same name by Laura Lippman. The limited series stars Oscar winner Portman as a housewife-turned-investigative journalist in 1960s Baltimore. She looks into the murder of a social activist played by Emmy nominee Moses Ingram. Ingram replaced Lupita Nyong’o in the role.
Portman also serves as an executive producer on the show, which Alma Har’el and Dre Ryan co-created and wrote.
Photo: Apple TV+
