Update, Wednesday, August 31: Baltimore police have disputed initial reports saying threats of violence and extortion were made to the crew of Lady in the Lake, according to the Baltimore Banner. Using CCTV footage, police located a 43-year-old street vendor who, in a statement, said he had talked to production around six in the morning on August 26 to appeal for compensation due to Lady in the Lake forcing him out of operation. His statement doesn’t mention a gun. Upon being asked to describe the gun by police, the location supervisor who submitted the initial report “retracted his original statement of seeing the gun and advised he did not see a gun but that one of the drivers [had] seen the gun,†noting that he had seen “a large amount of marijuana,†according to the police report. The police were called to the set around 4:45 p.m., according to the police report, responding to a separate report of people causing disruption. An officer spoke to a man who “was being argumentative†but denied antagonizing the crew. A supervisor for a security firm working on set claimed people were asking first for $4,000, then $50,000 for the crew to film and had threatened to shoot in the air. However, “she did not have any knowledge of who made the threats or request for money.†Ultimately, the street vendor was arrested on drug charges. Vulture has reached out to Apple TV+ for comment.
Original story published August 29 follows.
The Baltimore production of the upcoming Apple TV+ miniseries Lady in the Lake was halted on Friday, August 26, after producers received shooting threats, Variety reports. The Natalie Portman–led series is an adaptation of Laura Lippman’s novel of the same name and takes place in Baltimore in 1966. According to the Baltimore Police Department, a group of locals contacted the series’ producers, who were filming scenes on Park Avenue in the downtown area, at around 4 p.m. on Friday. The group then threatened to shoot somebody that evening if the production continued and asked for a sum of $50,000 to safely resume the shoot.
In a statement to Vulture, the show’s reps confirm “a driver on our production crew was confronted by two men, one of whom brandished a gun directed at our driver, and then they fled the location†prior to the arrival of the cast and crew. “The safety and security of our crew, cast and all who work across our productions is our highest priority, and we are thankful no one was injured,†the statement continues. “Production will resume with increased security measures going forward.†The investigation is ongoing. The series began filming in April and co-stars Moses Ingram, Y’Lan Noel, Mikey Madison, and Brett Gelman.