Note: This story contains spoilers for Episode 3 of “Lady in the Lake”
Before the title character’s untimely death in the 1960s-set “Lady in the Lake,” Episode 3 sees Cleo (Moses Ingram) throwing all caution to the wind in a wild dance sequence at the jazz club where she works for mobster Shell Gordon (Wood Harris).
She’s just been inadvertently dragged into the mobster-ordered assassination attempt of a local Black politician, one who she — until recently — ardently supported. The word isn’t out yet about her involvement, but Cleo knows that the secret is going to come out at some point.
Her husband Slappy (Byron Bowers) doesn’t know what went down, only that Cleo is not acting like her usual self and that something is deeply wrong. TheWrap spoke to Ingram, who plays Cleo, and creator, showrunner and director Alma Har’el about capturing Cleo’s chaotic emotions before her death.
TheWrap: Let’s talk about the dance scene at the club where Cleo gets drunk at work for the first time. She’s kind of falling apart there, but she’s also kind of celebrating that she survived after the botched attack on Myrtle Summer. Can you talk about filming that scene and Cleo’s state of mind?
Alma Har’el: We had an incredible choreographer and worked with Moses to bring this to life. That’s probably one of my favorite scenes in the whole seven hours of the show. I’ll never forget filming it that day. Moses sent me a letter at the end of it that she felt like she had danced away a part of her that was keeping her back, and it felt like some sort of exorcism at times when we were on set. When that feeling comes that something special is going to come out of it.
Moses Ingram: Cleo has been surrounded by so many people in her life who put themselves first and take care of themselves. She doesn’t even let herself drink in front of these people and still, somehow she always gets the short end of the stick. That scene, it’s a little bit of “f–k you’ essentially.
But it’s also sad and it’s just as desperate as she is. It’s like looking for something. She doesn’t even know what she’s looking for, which is the worst. You don’t even know where to start.
We shot a lot of angles, a lot of takes. That was a full day. The dancers were really amazing. Our choreographer was really amazing. The camera flew for part of that, and it was right in the crowd with us. And actually, I got hit with the camera at one point. But you know, it’s one of those things, you’ve just got to keep going.
You got hit in the head, Moses?
Ingram: Yeah, the camera came down into the [area] that we were dancing in. If you watch the scene there are a lot of clips in there that are really wild. We just collided, my head and that box camera. Yeah, it was really painful. We definitely tried to ice it and put on, like, anti-swelling, and just moved the wig down on my face and kept going.
The song in the scene is so powerful,”See Line Woman,” which Nina Simone record in 1964. Did you know that one beforehand?
Ingram: Alma was nice enough to ask me about if there was a song that I really connected with. The first time I heard “See Line Woman” was in a trailer for the Dominique Morisseau play, “Sunset Baby.” I was so attached to that play, which made me so attached to that song.
Har’el: We recorded it and created it with Bekon, who produced Kendrick Lamar’s last two albums. He’s an extraordinary producer. I brought “See Line woman” to him and asked him to produce a more feverish version of it, as if Dora (Jennifer Mogbock) is performing it.
Earlier, we saw Cleo publicly stand up for Myrtle at a fundraiser luncheon and speak out against Shell Gordon. But we don’t realize at that point that Cleo works for Gordon … or that Myrtle tells her that she can’t use her on her campaign after that speech.
Ingram: Myrtle is someone that Cleo put a lot of faith in and to find out that someone you respect so much is just the same as everyone else…. that’s a large part of why Cleo realizes that she has to take it into her own hands, because no one’s going to save you, no one’s going to come back to get you. You gotta take it [for yourself].
The first three episodes of “Lady in the Lake” are now streaming on Apple TV+. Episode 4 premieres Friday.
