Although it is already one of the most discussed films of the year,
It Ends with Us is now the subject of a lawsuit. The romantic drama, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel of the same name, features protagonists
Blake Lively e Justin Baldoni as Lily and Ryle, a couple who find their budding relationship troubled by the sudden reappearance of her first love and signs of domestic abuse from Ryle that he saw his parents suffer. Also directed by Baldoni, the film was a box office success despite poor reviews It Ends with Us have been largely conflicting.
Now, almost two months after its success on two different streaming platforms, the
controversy are It Ends with
Us continues: Blake Lively has filed a lawsuit against Baldonias reported
The Hollywood Reporter. The document indicates that the producer/star accuses the director/star and his production company Wayfarer Studios of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment, which allegedly resulted in the need for a “meeting of all staff members” to address his concerns.
Everything that has been reported about Lively's lawsuit against Baldoni
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Sources report that these concerns included “do not show videos or images of naked women to Lively”, “no longer mention the alleged previous 'addiction to pornography’by Baldoni”,
“no longer discuss sexual experiences in front of Lively and others”, “no more mentioning the cast and crew's genitals”, “Don't ask anymore about Lively's weight” e “no longer add sex scenes, oral sex or on-camera climaxes by BL outside the scope of the script approved by BL at the time of signing the project”.
According to the lawsuit, Wayfarer would “embraced and approved” the “requests” by Lively, but Baldoni would have gone against the agreement to keep all press promotion focused on “Lily's strength and resilience”, focusing instead on the drama of the story for “explain why many of the film's cast and crew unfollowed him on social media”. The lawsuit goes on to claim that Baldoni and his team not only used the “survival content” of the book on domestic violence to fix his public image, but they also embarked on a campaign of “social manipulation” per
“destroy” that of Lively.
Simultaneously with the news of the lawsuit and the subsequent abandonment of Baldoni by his representative agency, WME, the
New York Times published an extensive summary of the reports of insiders familiar with the situation,
taken from “thousands of pages of text messages and emails” which Lively obtained through a subpoena, which was later reviewed by the publication. It all begins with the fact that Baldoni and lead producer Jamey Heath reportedly hired crisis public relations expert Melissa Nathan in early August with the intention of “damage Ms. Lively's reputation”, to which she replied “we can bury anyone”.
Wayfarer's attorney, Bryan Freedman, later responded with a statement to
NOW to counter Lively's claims, stating that none of the other parties did anything “proactive or retaliatory”, instead accusing the producer/star of “another desperate attempt to 'fix' his negative reputation”. Freedman's statement goes on to say:
These statements are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious, with the intent to cause public harm and to spin a narrative in the media. [La signora Lively ha diffuso nei media storie
negative e completamente inventate e false [sul signor Baldoni,
che] was another reason Wayfarer Studios decided to hire a crisis professional.”
As part of the lawsuit against Baldoni, Lively released a statement in which she
denied that she or anyone on her team”has spread negative information about Mr. Baldoni or Wayfarer” and expressed hope that the lawsuit “doesbring the curtain down on these sinister retaliatory tactics”:
I hope my legal action will help bring back the curtain on these sinister retaliation tactics against people who report misconduct and help protect others who may be targeted.”
The report goes on to state that while Lively began to feel comfortable on set after the tense meeting, she has worked with Sony to create their own cut of It Ends with
Uswhich included the addition of new editors, a composer and the addition of a Taylor Swift song. Ultimately the studio and Wayfarer decided to cast her version of the film and gave her a producing credit.
At the beginning of the collaboration between Baldoni and his team and Nathan, the latter would have suggested a series of talking points for the media,
“including that Ms. Lively used an imbalance of power to take creative control of the film”only for the director/star to push harder, referencing a social media thread in which one celebrity accused another of bullying behavior and which generated 19 million views. The team also reportedly spoke to an editor at the Daily Mail of the possibility of inserting pieces “about how horrible Blake is to work with”.
The report goes on to note the backlash Lively allegedly faced while promoting It Ends with Usbut also notes that it is “It's impossible to know how much of the negative publicity has been sown” by Baldoni and his team, with the a group that instead constantly sent messages of excitement over the criticism directed at it. A message from Nathan to Jennifer Abel, another public relations executive, read:
And social media is really growing. In her favor, she must be furious. It's really sad because it shows that there are people who really want to hate women.”
Subsequent message exchanges show that Baldoni experienced a range of emotions regarding the reported smear campaignranging from the suggestion of spinning a positive story about Lively and Ryan Reynolds against the duo, to concerns that people will understand her involvement and fears that bot accounts will be used for their own purposes. Nathan assured the director/star that no bots were used, as a digital PR team would “too smart to 'use something so obvious'”. Nathan also took credit for the story published by Daily Mail on August 16, titled “Is Blake Lively Set to Be CANCELED?”, calling herself “the best” and asking Abel “That's why you hired me, right?”.
A report acquired by
NOW and Kettle kettle brand marketing consultant
seems to confirm that Lively was the subject of “a targeted, multi-channel online attack” aimed at damaging his reputation. Data from the report states that 35% of Google search results for Lively's name included a reference to Baldoni, which the company said is “highly unusual given the length of his career” and that “suggests that the media environment has been manipulated”.
Cover PHOTO: Blake Lively at the 13th Annual LACMA Art + Film Gala 2024 presented by Gucci. – Photo by imagepressagency via Depositphotos.com
