Released last August, in the United States and in France, the feature film Jamais plus (It Ends With Us, in original version) is no longer showing. But the soap opera around the film continues, and “should last for a while yet”, warns the American site Vox.
The filming of this fiction about domestic violence, directed and co-produced by Justin Baldoni, was marred by tensions. These had already complicated and tainted the promotional campaign. In the last days of 2024, a new milestone was reached, with filings of cross-complaints from the two headliners, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni himself. The conflict between the two stars turns into “school case for lawyers and press officers”, summarizes columnist Robin Abcarian in the Los Angeles Times.
Blake Lively filed two complaints against Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against him: on December 20 in a California court, and on December 31 in New York, at the federal level. These complaints also target two other co-producers of Never again and Justin Baldoni’s PR team. The actor-director-producer, for his part, filed a complaint against The New York Times December 31: he considers defamatory a long investigation that the daily published on December 21, detailing and supporting Blake Lively’s grievances. On January 3, he also announced that he was considering filing a complaint against his actress.
An ethical problem
Like a wave of a magic wand, that’s all “a universe of legal battles and image wars” which suddenly reveals itself, Robin Abcarian again remarks in the Los Angeles Times. And this universe, rarely exposed so bluntly, raises questions and questions – and above all a deep unease.
In particular, the Lively-Baldoni affair puts the work of image agents and other communications experts who work behind the scenes in Hollywood under the spotlight. “This case pushes communicators and crisis management specialists to question the ethics of their profession and how their services can transform the image of a public figure – for better or for worse ”, notes PRWeek, an information site aimed at public relations professionals.
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