The filming of a new Apple TV+ series starring Israeli-born actress Natalie Portman was temporarily suspended after locals threatened to shoot up the Baltimore set.
According to the Baltimore Police Department, residents of the area warned producers that they would “come back later this evening [and] shoot someone” unless they were paid $50,000.
The joint Apple-Endeavour Content production Lady in the Lake is based on a book of the same name written by American author and journalist Laura Lippman.
Portman plays a housewife-turned-journalist investigating a murder. The series is co-starred by Emmy Award-nominee Moses Ingram who portrays a social justice activist in 1960s Baltimore.
The shooting of Lady in the Lake began in April and is expected to run through the fall.
"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.
Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem in 1981 and moved to the United States at the age of three.
She won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the psychological horror film Black Swan.
In 2015, she starred in and directed the drama A Tale of Love and Darkness based on a novel by Israeli author Amos Oz which is set against the backdrop of the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel.
Portman has been the subject of criticism by Israeli and Jewish groups worldwide for her condemnation of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
In 2018, she even refused to attend a ceremony in Israel to accept the Genesis Prize, popularly dubbed the "Jewish Nobel", because she did not want to be seen as supporting then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was scheduled to speak at the event.