Blake Lively and the cast of “It Ends With Us” have documented numerous concerns about director and co-star Justin Baldoni, who they say crossed boundaries multiple times during production, according to court records released Tuesday.
The document also details the major creative differences between Lively and Baldoni, which led to Lively creating her own cut of the film. Lively said in a court statement that Baldoni’s cut “alienates the female characters” and “glorifies the abuser” and will upset female viewers.
Ms. Lively also refused to promote the film by Ms. Baldoni or producer Jamie Heath, but she claims that Mr. Baldoni defamed her in retaliation for her complaints.
“They painted themselves as victims and me as the bully,” she said. “I had no intention of personally endorsing Baldoni or Heath by appearing alongside them or promoting their films together.”
Lively sued Baldoni, the film’s producers and publicists for harassment and retaliation. The trial is scheduled for May 18th. Last fall, Baldoni filed a motion to throw out the lawsuit, arguing that Lively’s claims were only “minor grievances.”
A public hearing on the motion will be held Thursday. Judge Lewis Lehman ordered the release of a mountain of evidence accumulated by both sides ahead of the hearing. Baldoni’s documents have not yet been released.
Lively’s documents, unsealed Tuesday morning, include excerpts from affidavits and text messages from herself and co-stars Jenny Slate and Isabella Ferrer.
“The newly unsealed damning documents show that many women, cast, crew, executives, partners, co-hosts, and even Justin Baldoni’s own public relations team consistently responded to Justin Baldoni,” said Sigrid McCauley, a member of Lively’s legal team. “The evidence includes Ms. Lively’s own testimony about the harassment she experienced, as well as new evidence from a number of women who described their own disturbing experiences.”
Slate, who plays Lively’s best friend in the film, testified that Baldoni called Lively “hot” and “sexy.” Mr. Slate flagged the inappropriate comment, but Mr. Baldoni said he did not appreciate it. On another occasion, Baldoni told Slate that she looked “sexy” in what she was wearing.
“I thought there was an understanding that, ‘We’re not going to do this anymore,'” Slate testified. “It’s not appropriate anymore. It never was appropriate, but it’s not appropriate in the workplace.”
Slate also sent text messages calling Baldoni a “narcissist” and a “fraud” for cultivating a feminist persona.
“Justin is truly a false ally and I want nothing to do to further the image he is creating as a ‘male feminist’…I honestly don’t have the words to describe what a fraud he is,” she wrote. “Honestly, I’ve never met anyone like this guy. He’s the biggest clown and the most intense narcissist.”
Ferrer, who played a 16-year-old version of Lively’s character, testified that Baldoni made inappropriate comments while directing a scene in which her character loses her virginity.
“I shouldn’t say this, but it was hot,” Baldoni said, according to her testimony.
Mr. Ferrer testified that the remark was out of place.
“It didn’t feel appropriate in a work environment, and given that it wasn’t necessarily some kind of note related to my acting,” she said. “It felt out of place and strange to hear about certain scenes, especially those that were supposed to be PG scenes of two young teenagers having an intimate and innocent experience.”
In her testimony, Lively said she was concerned that Baldoni added some “unwarranted” sexual scenes to the film.
During a conversation with Baldoni about whether or not to circumcise her infant, Baldoni stated that she was circumcised, which seemed to make her uncomfortable. In another example, Baldoni said he liked her outfits with inflections that made them look sleazy.
“It wasn’t the moment he saw the clothes,” Lively said. “It wasn’t until I bent over and my coat opened that someone complimented me on my outfit…I felt uncomfortable. I felt exposed. I felt humiliated. I felt ashamed.”
Lively also expressed concerns about filming the birth scene, during which she was kept in stirrups and nearly naked for several hours. She said she learned that day that the actor playing the gynecologist was one of Baldoni’s friends.
“I felt very uncomfortable with the degree to which I was exposed in the birth scene. I felt it was invasive and humiliating,” she said. “We had to request blankets to provide privacy between takes, but they weren’t always provided.”
Ms. Baldoni’s lawyers had previously argued that Ms. Lively knew she would appear in a “sexual film with adult themes” and that her complaints did not rise to the level of harassment.
Colleen Hoover, author of the book on which the film is based, testified that she feared the film adaptation would be overly sexualized and lose the message of women’s empowerment in the face of domestic violence.
“It’s fun to sit alone and read a detailed sex scene to some people, but not many people want to see a sex scene in a theater,” she wrote to Baldoni. “In some movies that focus on romance, women want to see sex, and that’s not wrong. We want to see love and emotion and angst and accumulation, so it’s okay to use your imagination from there.”
