David Ng – Breitbart.com Aug 29, 2022

Hollywood star Natalie Portman publicly supported defunding the police back in 2020, encouraging politicians to deprive police departments of taxpayer dollars. Now the Oscar-winning actress is benefiting from Baltimore police protection after drug dealers threatened gun violence on the set of her new Apple TV+ series.

On Friday, the Baltimore production of her Apple TV+ series Lady in the Lake was suspended after drug dealers reportedly threatened to shoot somebody if production didn’t stop. They also demanded producers pay $50,000 before production would be allowed to continue.

“We are working with the Baltimore Police Department as the investigation is ongoing,” the studio behind the series, Endeavor Content, said in a statement sent to Deadline.

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"The leaders of the production decided to err on the side of caution and reschedule the shoot after they found another location," the department spokesperson said.

"Lady in the Lake" is a television series that is slated to air on Apple TV+. It is based on the book written by best-selling author Laura Lippman, a former Baltimore Sun reporter.

The series stars Academy Award winner Natalie Portman. A film crew has been operating in the 200 block of Park Avenue, according to authorities.

The producers of "Lady in the Lake" will be filming "throughout the Baltimore region until October," according to a Maryland Economic Development Association press statement.

"'Lady in the Lake' takes place in 1960s Baltimore, where an unsolved murder pushes a housewife and mother to reinvent herself as an investigative journalist and sets her on a collision course with a hard-working woman juggling motherhood, many jobs, and a passionate commitment to advancing Baltimore's Black progressive agenda," according to the statement.