It Ends With Reputational Ruin

Just one day after the news that Justin Baldoni hired Johnny Depp’s former crisis PR manager made headlines, more It Ends With Us allegations—including fat-shaming and obvious tension on set—began circulating.

Sources told TMZ that Baldoni’s co-star, Blake Lively, allegedly felt “fat-shamed” after the actor and director—who reportedly suffers from chronic back pain—asked his trainer how he could prepare for a scene where he lifts her, so as not to aggravate the issue. Lively, who had recently given birth to her fourth child, was “bothered” by Baldoni’s query, per reports. The sources also said Lively was “uncomfortable” after Baldoni allegedly lingered “longer than he should have” after a kissing scene.

Now, if the latter claim sounds like a job for an intimacy coordinator, you’re correct. Oddly enough, both Lively and Baldoni have cited the film’s intimacy coordinators in interviews. So…were they at the craft service table when Baldoni allegedly “lingered” too long, or? Additionally, given Lively was a producer and is undoubtedly the most famous person attached to this project, you’d think if she needed more support to prevent potential discomfort, she could easily get that…

But these are just the latest claims that make the It Ends With Us set sound like a less-than-comfortable set. According to other reports, the tension between Lively and Baldoni was “so obvious” from the outset.

“Once she was done with the scene she was really impatient, said, ‘Am I done? Can I go?,’ and as soon as they said ‘yes,’ there was like a Blake-size hole in the wall,” one source told Page Six. 

Allegations that Baldoni and Lively had some creative differences—including the fact that it seems like Ryan Reynolds possibly had a significant role in shaping this script—have been well-documented already. Last week, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that a bulk of the tension stemmed from “a fracture among the filmmakers in the postproduction process”—apparently there were two different edits of the film, one of which Lively commissioned herself, with her “more feminine edits,” according to Page Six, making the final cut.

For his part, however, Baldoni has repeatedly praised his co-star: “She is a dynamic creative—she had her hands in every part of this production and everything she touched, she made better,” he recently told Today.

Will we ever find out what happened between these two? Who knows! Neither have commented directly on any of the allegations yet. But given Lively is currently getting canceled on TikTok and Baldoni is weathering his own share of negative press, it’s looking like this story ends with reputational ruin.

• R.I.P. Gena Rowlands. [People]
• Channing Tatum and Zoe Kravitz know their cinema. [Daily Mail]
• Sony Pictures CEO praised Blake Lively for “advancing” the conversation about domestic violence. Oh, is that what she did? [The Hollywood Reporter]
• Father of the Year alert: Rob Schneider just apologized to his daughter, Elle King, via an interview with Tucker Carlson. [Variety]
• The current owners of Britney Spears‘ childhood home have graciously offered it as a filming location for her forthcoming biopic. [TMZ]