Sony Pictures
The brewing legal drama between It Ends With Us co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has taken another turn, as Baldoni’s lawyers have released set video from the production in an effort to undercut some of Lively’s claims.
Just last week, Justin Baldoni — who directed It Ends With Us in addition to co-starring in it — filed a $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively, husband Ryan Reynolds (Baldoni’s lawyers are claiming the “Nicepool” character in Deadpool & Wolverine was used to make a mockery of Baldoni), and publicist Leslie Sloane, claiming they intentionally tried to damage his reputation.
“Though Lively claimed Baldoni was the one smearing her, the reality is that it was Lively and her team who carefully planned and implemented a vile smear campaign against Baldoni and Wayfarer to deflect attention and blame for Lively’s disastrous misjudgments,” Baldoni’s lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, reads.
“Lively, working with her husband, her publicist, and Jones, among others, set out on a campaign to tar and feather Plaintiffs in the press.”
Baldoni and his legal team continued their offensive manuevars this week by publishing 10-minutes of uncut footage from the set of It Ends With Us. One scene in particular — Lively and Baldoni’s characters dancing at a party — has specific relevance to the lawsuits, according to TMZ.
Raw video from #ItEndsWithUs reveals some very telling conversation between #BlakeLively and #JustinBaldoni.
Read the full story on why this particular scene is especially relevant to their ongoing legal battle: https://t.co/Nioc0QmtCS
🎥: Courtesy of Bryan Freedman pic.twitter.com/nzSdYu5KBO
— TMZ (@TMZ) January 21, 2025
“Blake referenced the scene in her lawsuit against Justin, and accused him of getting creepy with comments about the fragrance she was wearing. In the video, which has both actors mic’d up, you don’t see Justin making any offensive comments or actions toward Blake. We’re told his team believes this completely refutes Blake’s sexual harassment claim.”
“And, there’s a reference to Justin’s nose. In his lawsuit, he mentions Blake mocking the size of his nose, and saying he should get a nose job. Well, that all plays out in the video.” [via TMZ]
As for Lively, she has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and attempting to orchestrate a subsequent smear campaign against her. Lively claims that Baldoni behaved inappropriately on set, including unwanted physical advances and unprofessional conduct, such as comments about her weight.
In response to the video, Lively’s lawyers said that the “every frame” of the footage corroborates her claims “to the letter.”
“Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning. Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint,” Lively’s lawyers said in a statement to the New York Post.
“Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present. Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss. The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort.”
It Ends with Us, based on the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name, grossed $351 million at the global box office against just a $25 million budget. Given the ongoing legal battle between the two stars, however, a sequel is highly unlikely, especiailly since Baldoni’s production company holds the rights to the sequel novel, It Stars with Us. It Ends with Us is currently streaming on Netflix.