Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s movie, It Ends With Us, is not only stirring up the theatres but also social media. The cast controversy alongside the book vs movie discussion, is significantly boosting the buzz around It Ends With Us.
Based on Colleen Hoover’s 2016 bestseller by the same name, the film centres around Lily Blossom Bloom (Lively), who falls in love with a charming neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni). While living her seemingly perfect life, she reunites with her teenage love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar).
(Trigger Warning: This article mentions domestic violence, which some readers may find distressing.)
Justin Baldoni starred, produced and directed It Ends With Us alongside Blake Lively as co-producer. Baldoni acquired the film rights from Hoover in 2019. The film depicts the surreptitious nature of domestic violence and how it painfully continues across generations. However, the pompous and fluffy marketing of the movie may deceive you.
From allegedly excluding Baldoni from promotions to Lively irking fans of the book with the launching of her hair-care brand, the promotional strategy of It Ends With Us movie adaptation has stirred up quite a bit of controversy.
All about the controversy around the ‘It Ends With Us’ movie
The drama began when the ‘It Ends With Us’ cast allegedly excluded Justin Baldoni
Move over, Sherlock Holmes, the great detectives on the internet might have cracked the controversy around It Ends With Us movie’s cast. With their immaculate deduction skills and the power vested in them by obsessing over Colleen Hoover’s fictional characters for years, the fandom sensed Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s rocky off-screen relationship.
It all started at the New York City premiere on 6 August 2024 when fans noticed that the cast of It Ends With Us was incomplete. Lively was accompanied by her husband Ryan Reynolds and co-stars Jenny Slate and Brandon Sklenar.
Interestingly, Hugh Jackman, Reynold’s Deadpool & Wolverine co-star joined in on the press junket run as well.
However, the director and star of the film, Baldoni was missing from the action. The actor, who is also popular for playing Rafael Solano in Jane the Virgin (2015), was spotted with his wife, Emily Baldoni, and other friends and family. He was never seen with the rest of the cast on the red carpet for any promotional events. Moreover, Justin Baldoni was also absent from joint interviews with the It Ends With Us cast members.
It did not take long for fans to double down on the drama when Jenny Slate — who plays Lively’s on-screen best friend Allysa — awkwardly avoided mentioning Justin Baldoni in an interview with Deadline when asked about her experience of working with Baldoni as a director. “I mean, what an intense job! To have to do so many things,” she replied without mentioning him even once.
Jenny Slate on working with Justin Baldoni, who served as both scene partner and director to the actress in #ItEndsWithUsMovie pic.twitter.com/c77v83OgzB
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) August 7, 2024
Being the green flag that he is, Sklena spoke highly about Baldoni in an interview with People magazine. He said, “The entire crew that he ensembled was so incredible”.
However, Lively and Hoover unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram — further stirring the pot of It Ends With Us movie controversy.
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Did Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively take over ‘It Ends With Us’?
During an interview with E! News, Lively revealed Reynolds’ involvement in the film. “The iconic rooftop scene, my husband actually wrote it. He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his. I mean, he’s all over this film,” she revealed.
Although this would have gained them an additional point in ‘couple goals’ on any other day, in this instance, fans raised concerns about Reynolds and Lively “bulldozing” their way into the film’s production and snatching the creative liberties from Baldoni as a director.
Baldoni’s cryptic remarks on Lively further fuelled speculations
Amid the rumours of Lively audaciously taking over the production of It Ends With Us, Baldoni’s remark about the sequel added more fuel to the fire. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, during the film’s New York City premiere, Baldoni stated, “I think Blake Lively’s ready to direct, that’s what I think.”
After the massive success of her book It Ends With Us, Hoover published its sequel, It Stars With Us, in October 2022. The second instalment of the novel centres around Lily and Atlas’ relationship. Fans are awaiting a confirmation about the sequel.
Subsequently, during his Today show appearance, Baldoni continued praising Lively by stating, “She had her hands in every part of this production and everything she touched, she made better”.
“Everything she touched she made better.”
Justin Baldoni shares what it was like working with Blake Lively on their new movie, @ItEndsWithUs. pic.twitter.com/EYxlzU4OTL
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 8, 2024
Fans of the book seem to be upset with Lively
One of the biggest irks for avid fictional readers is when their favourite novel is adapted into a film. Hoover’s It Ends With Us is no exception. From the misleading packaging of the film to the casting, It Ends With Us book lovers are vexed over the film adaptation. The monotonous narration, coupled with underwhelming interpretations of a few vital scenes in the movie, has disappointed the fans.
As Blake’s promotional strategy and perspective of the story make her seem like the “bad guy”, Baldoni’s interviews have the entire fandom siding with him. Many believe that the director treated the subject of the movie sensitively and the way it was supposed to be.
In several of his interviews, Baldoni stressed having a female gaze in the way intimate scenes were shot which compelled him to take a back seat as a director on some occasions. However, the star consistently steered the conversation back to raising awareness about domestic violence, which pleased fans of the book.
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Additionally, fans also pointed out Baldoni’s activism towards promoting healthy masculinity, which is also reflected in his approach towards his It Ends With Us character. He has also been vocal about men’s struggles through his works like the 2017 TEDWomen Talk titled Why I’m done being ‘man’ enough, 2021 memoir Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity followed by The Man Enough Podcast and the 2022 guidebook titled Boys Will Be Human.
On the other hand, although some fans agree with Lively’s perspective on Lily, a few pointed out that her “toxic positivity” deflected focus from raising awareness about domestic violence
In an interview with BBC, Lively elaborated on her perspective of It Ends With Us. She said, “What’s important about this film is that she is not just a survivor and she’s not just a victim. While those are huge things to be, they’re not her identity. She’s not defined by something that someone else did to her. She defines herself and it is deeply empowering to remind people that no one else can define you.”
“We really feel like we delivered a story that’s emotional, and it’s fun, and it’s painful, and it’s scary, and it’s tragic, and it’s inspiring and that’s what life is,” the actress stated while talking about her approach towards the film.
A majority of the fans believe that the Gossip Girl actor conveniently ignored the gender-based violence central to the plot. Many also called her out for using It Ends With Us as a brand-building exercise for her newly launched line of hair-care products called Blake Brown.
How the internet is reacting to the ‘It Ends With Us’ movie controversy
out of everyone from that cast it’s insane that only he has taken the initiative to talk about the domestic abuse aspect of the film. while blake lively is … promoting her brand 😃 https://t.co/hh84bLZYOv
— 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑎 🇵🇸 ˖ ݁𖥔 ˖ 𐙚 (@tinybookclub_) August 8, 2024
blake lively forgetting her character is a victim of domestic abuse and instead trying to give the entire press run a silly goofy barbie moment while justin baldoni is using his press time to talk about the importance of stopping the cycle of abuse is why I’m always on his side
— kelsey (@kel485) August 8, 2024
I’ll never understand the romance and cutesy stuff most people saw in ‘it ends with us’. The only reaction that book got from me was anger.
— Soma🌸 (@soma_Okoro) August 12, 2024
the fact that people actually believe blake lively thought it ends with us was getting her an oscar nom instead of a fun star role of a very popular book pic.twitter.com/MAuCKYDhpp
— . (@afroxbabyyy) August 8, 2024
Everyone who swears that It Ends With Us glorifies abusive relationships clearly has never read it 🤨 it’s literally about a woman choosing herself & leaving her abuser to break the cycle for her daughter.
— MJ ✨🤍 (@steelMEGnolia_) August 10, 2024
just so you know, if you haven’t read it ends with us, it’s not a romcom, don’t grab your girls and florals, know that it’s about domestic violence and there are some triggering scenes. this promo of this movie is pissing me off.
— vanessa (@vnesswiftie) August 10, 2024
No bcuz she’s right why are they mixing deadpool and wolverine with it ends with us press run 😭 pic.twitter.com/HGqWUqtqjQ
— . (@feathersmodel) August 8, 2024
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(Header and feature image courtesy: IMDb/It Ends With Us)
