Natalie Portman is revealing what she’d do if she wasn’t an actress. ET spoke to the Lady in the Lake star at the premiere for her upcoming Apple TV+ series, and Portman shared her alternative career path.
“I think I’d be like Jane Goodall, living with animals in the wild,” Portman told ET of the famed zoologist.
The question was posed in light of Portman’s latest project, which she executive produced and stars in as Maddie, a 1960s housewife who decides to leave all she’s ever known to work as a reporter and uncover the truth of an unsolved murder.
“She’s so in a tunnel of her own needs that it’s like she’s blind to everything else around her,” Portman told ET of her character. “It was wild to inhabit her intensity.”
Portman stars in the limited series alongside Moses Ingram, who plays Cleo Johnson, a hardworking mother on a mission to advance the lives of Black people in Baltimore. The story of the two women’s differing but interconnected lives is why Portman signed on for the project.
“It had two such incredible female roles, both women looking for their freedom in this incredible world of the 1960s in Baltimore, beautifully realized by all of our designers,” she said. “[Series creator] Alma Har’el is just someone I admire so much. Her heart and her talent exceeded any expectations I had of her.”
Ingram also spoke about the series in an interview with ET, calling her co-star “a legend.”
“I was overwhelmed in the beginning. Every day I sit next to her I’m still overwhelmed that someone that I’ve watched for so many years, I somehow landed in the TV next to her,” she said. “It’s super surreal. I’m grateful for it.”
Lady in the Lake premieres July 19 on Apple TV+.
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