Are Blake Lively And Justin Baldoni Beefing? Breaking Down The ‘It Ends With Us’ Drama Rumors

The highly anticipated film adaptation of Colleen Hoover ‘s bestselling novel It Ends With Us is set to have a huge premiere weekend in the box office, but the romantic drama has become mired in speculation and rumors as fans have begun noticing that most of the cast, including star Blake Lively , are seemingly avoiding lead and director Justin Baldoni .

It Ends With Us features Lively as Lily Bloom, a florist who overcame her traumatic childhood to start a new life in Boston, where she meets the charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni). But his charming demeanor appears to be hiding something far more sinister that reminds her of her own parents’ fraught relationship.

Though Baldoni and Lively are both avidly promoting the high-profile film, there does appear to be some sort of rift between the stars. DECIDER has reached out to reps for both Lively and Baldoni for comment, but did not hear back by time of publication.

There’s a lot of conjecture and speculation spreading online at the moment, but here’s everything we do know about the drama –— and it’s a lot .

Why do people believe Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are feuding?

Rumors first began spreading earlier this week when social media users noticed Lively and Baldoni did not pose for photos together at the film’s red carpet premiere, despite sharing so many scenes together in the film. Lively did, however, pose for photos with her husband Ryan Reynolds and his Deadpool & Wolverine co-star Hugh Jackman , prompting some users to believe that Lively was using her film to cross-promote her husband’s recent blockbuster.

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Fans also noticed that Lively, Hoover and actress Jenny Slate , who also stars in the film, do not follow Baldoni on social media. Slate also expertly dodged a question about Baldoni’s directing on the red carpet, which only added fuel to the rumors that there may have been a rift between the rest of the cast and Baldoni.

How is Ryan Reynolds allegedly involved in the drama?

Reynolds’ appearance on the red carpet seemed to affirm some speculation that Lively, who is a producer on It Ends With Us , may have given her husband some creative control over the film.

She revealed at the premiere that Reynolds helped write a key scene for her character that takes place on a rooftop. “We help each other. He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his,” she said.

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed in a recent report that Reynolds did write “a large chunk of dialogue” but not the entire scene, according to multiple insiders.

What else do we know about the It Ends With Us drama?

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The report from THR also confirmed that Lively commissioned another cut of the film from Deadpool & Wolverine editor Shane Reid. But an insider “played down any friction” this may have caused between Baldoni and Lively, noting that it’s quite common for there to be different cuts of the film. The insider also added that the team “was in agreement” on the film’s final version.

Film blog World of Reel also reports (via TheInSneider ) that there were “competing cuts” of the film after Lively got her own version made, though Baldoni’s reportedly scored higher with audiences. The report claims Reynolds allegedly “took over the movie and buddied up to author Colleen Hoover to see that their cut won.”

A source said that the Baldoni and Lively “hate each other” now, while a second source came to Baldoni’s defense to say, “It’s wild that the cast would shun Justin and not do press with him. It makes no sense because he’s the only one acting professional.”

What has Justin Baldoni said about Blake Lively and It Ends With Us ?

Baldoni wore many hats for the film between being director, executive producer, and the film’s main antagonist. He explained to TODAY.com that he put a lot of work into preparing to play Ryle, so much that it affected his directing and personal life and may have veered into method acting.

“I did a lot of work to prepare for Ryle, months and months and months, before we ever shot anything,” Baldoni said. “Besides working with acting coaches, I kept a journal as Ryle, and I wrote down in first person as if it was like a therapy assignment.” He said he also attended court-mandated recovery groups for perpetrators.

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“I can feel (Ryle) living inside of me, but I’m, like, pushing that down so that I can make sure that everybody on set is OK, and I’ve never once raised my voice on set,” he added.

But he later said that directing and starring in the film was an “extreme challenge,” citing “complex personalities” on set. He admitted that he often deferred to other peoples’ opinions and visions for the film as he considers himself “a ‘best idea wins’ person.”

“You don’t have to listen to everybody and that didn’t happen all the time, but there were just moments where I would get out of the way too much,” he said.

However, he praised Lively and Reynolds and said he’d work with them again “if they’d have me.”

“You can’t summarize Blake’s contribution in a sentence, because her energy and imprint is all over the movie and really, really made the film better, and from beginning to end,” Baldoni said. “Ryan was so generous … he’s a creative genius, that guy. So, you know, his gift is levity, and her gift is levity.”

He even recommended that Lively direct a sequel to the film based on Hoover’s book It Starts With Us .  “I think that there are better people for that one,” he told Entertainment Tonight at the premiere, seemingly taking himself out of the running as director. “I think Blake Lively’s ready to direct, that’s what I think.”

And though he and Lively seemingly did not pose or interact with each other on the red carpet, Baldoni gave her a shoutout at the premiere.

“This isn’t my night — this is a night for all the women who we made this movie for,” he said. “This is a night for Blake, this is a night for Colleen. I’m just so grateful that we’re here, five years in the making.”

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