It Ends With Us stars Blake Lively , Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, and Justin Baldoni, who also directed the movie. The story is about Lily Bloom (Lively) moves to Boston, where she meets handsome neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni), and reconnects with her old boyfriend and first love, Atlas Corrigan (Sklenar). The movie is based on Colleen Hoover’s wildly popular book which became famous on BookTok.
The movie is set to become one of the most popular movies of summer 2024, with Variety reporting that it’s projected to earn $35 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend. However, there might be some cast drama that might affect the performance of the film.
What happened with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s It Ends With Us drama?
Blake Lively, Colleen Hoover, and Jenny Slate don’t follow Justin Baldoni on Instagram which sparked rumors that they were feuding. Blake and Justin seem to be doing separate press opportunities for the movie, and the cast is taking separate pictures without Justin.
“Where’s Justin? Why Justin hasn’t been involved in the promotion of the movie (not as much as the others),” a fan wrote on Blake’s Instagram post. “Why Justin Baldoni is not in any of the promos they have been doing?? They don’t even follow on Instagram,” another wrote.
A source told Page Six in August 2024 that Blake and Justin’s drama was allegedly due to the “extremely difficult” atmosphere Justin created behind the scenes of It Ends With Us . Another source also alleged that there were a few moments where Blake, who is an executive producer on the movie, was made to feel “uncomfortable” about her postpartum body. (Blake filmed It Ends With Us soon after giving birth to her and Ryan Reynolds’ fourth child, a son named Olin.)
“It’s not just Blake,” the source said. “None of the cast enjoyed working with Justin …They certainly didn’t talk to him at the premiere.” (Another source, however, told Page Six that Justin would never make any of his actors feel unappreciated.)
A source also allege to The Daily Mail that Justin had a “chauvinistic” and “borderline abusive” attitude on set, as well as refused to “consider” Blake’s perspective on how to film It Ends With Us ‘ scenes depicting abuse. The source claimed that Justin was “dismissive” toward Blake’s “input” on the abuse scenes and only focused on “What he believed was the abusive male viewpoint.”
“During scenes depicting abuse, Justin failed to consider Blake’s character’s perspective, instead focusing solely on what he believed was the abusive male viewpoint,” the source said said.
The insider continued, “His approach was very chauvinistic, creating a tense atmosphere on set.”
Another source added that Justin “almost” became like his character, Ryle, on the set of It Ends With Us due to his strong direction. “Justin almost became the character in the sense that some women on set felt he was borderline abusive to them and that he was unprofessional and unapologetic,” the source said.
The insider continued, “Directing a film so serious and so important about domestic abuse without allowing the women to be included in this process is disturbing.”
The source also claimed that Justin, who served as both director and producer on the film, “failed to recognize” both Blake and Colleen’s roles as producer and author, respectively. The insider also claimed that Justin took it “very personally” when Blake and Colleen asked for script rewrites.
“Without Colleen’s book, none of this would have been possible,” the insider said. “Parts of the film were rewritten under the instruction of Colleen – they had to be. He took their script decisions very personally, even though they weren’t intended that way.”
The source added that things got worse on the set of It Ends with Us when Justin started to feel “ganged up on” by Blake and Colleen. “His behavior extended beyond the main players,” the insider said. “Once he felt ganged up on, he became even less empathetic.”
The source continued, “Now, he’s speaking praises, likely out of fear that they’ll call him out. He knows it’s coming and might try to blame his actions on being a method actor.”
Justin seemed to hint at the drama when he told Entertainment Tonight at the time of It Ends With Us premiere that Blake should direct the book’s sequel, It Starts With Us , even though he owned the rights to option the story. “I think there are better people for that one,” Baldoni said. “I think Blake Lively’s ready to direct. That’s what I think.”
Before the reports, TikTok user Jenna Redfield deconstructed fan theories that the cast had animosity towards the director of the movie. Some theories include Blake wanting more creative control over the movie since she’s listed as a producer and a lack of budget. Another theory is that this feud was a PR stunt where “Justin is a villain” like the Don’t Worry Darling drama . Jenna said that the likely theory was that something else happened with Justin and that people don’t want to be affiliated with him before it breaks, like an affair.
Other people on Reddit seem to agree with the theory that something probably happened behind the scenes. One fan who is a big fan of Justin Baldoni wrote on the website, “My best guess would be creative differences or tension over budget constraints (between Justin and Blake that maybe led to other cast mates feeling like they needed to “pick sides”) EXCEPT that any strictly film-related drama wouldn’t affect Liz Plank (Justin’s longtime podcast co-host and friend). She seemed to have a falling out with Justin around the same time Colleen, Blake, and the other cast mates did. That is so weird! It makes me think he did something to really upset people even outside of the film-making process.”
As the press run continues for one of the biggest movies for the summer, many fans have noticed the cast’s behavior when they were asked about the director/actor. During a red carpet interview with Deadline , Jenny Slate was asked what it was like to work with Justin. One fan noticed that “she completely ignored the question.”
Though some fans are hopeful that there isn’t much beef withing the cast. Because the subject matter of the book and movie is very heavy, there’s a reason why Justin is doing press by himself. “imo this is a strategy for ryle not to be romanticized,” one fan wrote on X . “justin baldoni has always been so aware and conscious of social issues and also what women face, this is such a him move. i dont fw this book but if this is what they’re doing, respect.”
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