Justin Baldoni Changed ‘It Ends with Us’ to Make Sure Audiences Were ‘Never Judging’ Blake Lively’s Character

[Editor’s note: The following article contains spoilers for “It Ends with Us.”]

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Much has been said of the tense dynamic between “It Ends with Us” star Blake Lively and director and co-star Justin Baldoni. Making a film surrounding domestic abuse could theoretically strain the relationship between a cast and crew, but in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly , Baldoni spoke about the collaborative spirit he worked to foster on set. He claimed that from the start of the journey, working with screenwriter Christy Hall to adapt Colleen Hoover’s bestseller , his intentions were only ever focused on protecting the characters being explored, particularly Lively’s character, Lily Bloom.

As previously explained by IndieWire , in the book version of “It Ends with Us,” main character Lily is quick to acknowledge that each act of violence against her by husband Ryle is abuse. But in the film, these actions are less definitive, being treated more like accidents or mishaps than intentional. It isn’t until Ryle tries to rape Lily that she actually recognizes the situation for what it is.

“This is a movie about love, and about hope, and about empowerment, and the ability that each of us have to make a different choice,” Baldoni said . “In thinking about that, and what the theme of this movie is about, and what this book is about, I had to find a way to make sure that we were never judging Lily, and we were protecting her character arc, at all costs.”

Baldoni says he felt that audiences shouldn’t be given the chance to think Lily is somehow accepting of Ryle’s physical assaults. He worked with Hall to show the character instead as someone who must come to terms with her troubled past and the abuse she’s facing in the present.

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“Showing the abuse the way that it’s shown in the book, that early on, by the time Atlas shows up on the screen, there wouldn’t be a person in the audience that doesn’t judge her for not leaving with him right away,” Baldoni said. “And we couldn’t let that happen. I said this from the very beginning, before we ever made the movie: The movie has to be designed in a way where there is a portion of the audience that — even if they know what happened, even now knowing what Ryle did to her — would want her to forgive him. Otherwise, the choice she makes at the end doesn’t hit as hard, doesn’t land, and isn’t as difficult of a choice.”

Clearly this shifted perspective is resonating with fans and audiences alike as “It Ends with Us” managed to score big at the box office with a $50 million opening weekend.

“It Ends with Us” is in theaters now.