Is Lady In The Lake based on a true story? Inspiration behind Natalie Portman's new show

Watch the trailer for Lady in the Lake

The highly anticipated Lady In The Lake, featuring Natalie Portman, is almost here, but is the mini-series based on a true story?

This seven-part thriller, set to captivate Apple TV+ subscribers with its myriad of mysteries and star-studded cast led by Black Swan's Natalie Portman, has viewers eager to uncover the inspiration behind it.

Is Lady In The Lake based on a true story?

Lady In The Lake, airing on Apple TV+, is an adaptation of Laura Lippman's 2019 bestselling novel of the same name.

In both the book and the series, Jewish housewife Maddie Schwartz, portrayed by Natalie Portman, transforms herself into an investigative journalist following the enigmatic death of Cleo Sherwood, played by Moses Ingram. 

Lady In The Lake consists of seven episodes on Apple TV . (Image: APPLE TV PLUS)

Before her untimely death, Cleo navigated the "political underbelly of Black Baltimore while struggling to provide for her family".

When Cleo's body is discovered in a lake, Maddie is compelled to investigate the link between her largely ignored death and the murder of a young Jewish girl which received extensive media coverage.

While Lady In The Lake is a work of fiction, Lipman drew inspiration from two real-life murders that took place in the 1960s.

Following a complaint about faulty lights at the fountain in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore authorities discovered the body of Shirley Lee Parker, a 35 year old black bartender and bookkeeper who had been missing for several weeks.

To this day, the mystery of her demise remains unsolved.

Lady In The Lake on Apple TV : Is the Natalie Portman drama based on a true story? (Image: APPLE TV )

Parker's plight failed to ignite widespread press interest, particularly when measured against the highly publicised murder of Esther Lebowitz, an 11 year old white Jewish girl who vanished post-school errand.

Lippman drew on these contrasting cases to weave the narrative tapestry of 'Lady In The Lake', injecting life into the dual disappearances through the eyes of a fictitious female reporter, Maddie.

Speaking with NPR, Lippman divulged: "I very much wanted to look at these two different deaths, and how [differently] they had been portrayed in [the] media," adding, "And I was like: 'Well, what could possibly tie them together?'

"I didn't want to create some huge coincidence. So I thought, well, a woman, an investigator, someone who cared about both deaths, could be the thing that connected them."

Lady In The Lake premieres on Friday, July 19, on Apple TV+. 

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Is Lady In The Lake based on a true story? Inspiration behind Natalie Portman's new show

Is Lady In The Lake based on a true story? Inspiration behind Natalie Portman's new show

Is Lady In The Lake based on a true story? Inspiration behind Natalie Portman's new show

Is Lady In The Lake based on a true story? Inspiration behind Natalie Portman's new show

Is Lady In The Lake based on a true story? Inspiration behind Natalie Portman's new show