‘It Ends With Us’ cast drama between Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni explained

“It Ends With Us,” the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestseller, is in theaters now. But rumors of an alleged feud between the cast start with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
The movie follows a flower shop owner named Lily Blossom Bloom (Lively), who falls in love with a dashing neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) and reconnects with her stoic childhood sweetheart, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar). Directed by Baldoni and produced by Lively, the heart-wrenching film is a largely faithful retelling of Hoover’s book, grappling with the insidious nature of domestic violence and cycles of abuse across generations.
“It Ends With Us” also stars Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj, Isabela Ferrer and Alex Neustaedter.
While the movie marks the “Gossip Girl” alum’s first starring role since 2018’s “A Simple Favor,” it also marks a return to rumors surrounding on-set drama for Lively as internet sleuths have been digging into her seemingly rocky relationship with Baldoni.
From oddly paired press junkets, awkward red carpet appearances and interview snubs from the cast, here’s why the movie’s promotional tour has the internet up in arms.
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It all started at the New York City premiere of “It Ends With Us” on Aug. 6, when fans began noticing that there wasn’t a single shot of the entire cast together.
Lively was photographed with husband Ryan Reynolds (who has joined in on the press junket run for this movie as well), fellow A-lister friend Hugh Jackman, and co-stars Jenny Slate and Brandon Sklenar.
But what stood out the most was that Baldoni only appeared on the red carpet solo and side-by-side with his wife, Emily Baldoni, and other friends and family − but never with Lively or other co-stars.
According to People, Baldoni also allegedly didn’t introduce the film ahead of the screening with Lively and Hoover, despite being the director and star of the film.
Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, acquired the rights to the book in 2019, and Lively’s casting in “It Ends With Us” was announced in January 2023.
Following the premiere, internet sleuths began digging and claimed that Hoover and Lively unfollowed Baldoni on Instagram.
None of the main cast members of “It Ends With Us” follow Baldoni on the social media platform. Lively follows Sklenar, Hoover and Slate.
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Fans doubled down on the cast drama rumors when Slate − who plays Lively’s on-screen best friend Allysa − avoided directly answering a question about Baldoni’s directing chops.
“Talk to me, what was that like − having (Justin Baldoni) be director but also scene partner?” an interviewer for Deadline asked Slate at the New York premiere.
To which Slate answered, “I mean, what an intense job? To have to do so many things.” She added that she “was looking around just being like, ‘I’m good with just acting, I love it.'”
And at no point did she mention Baldoni.
Who plays Lily, Ryle and Atlasin ‘It Ends with Us’ movie? See full cast
However, during an interview with People magazine, Sklenar opened up about working with Baldoni and said the “Jane the Virgin” actor did a “great” job balancing his duties as actor, director and producer.
“The entire crew that he ensembled was so incredible,” Sklenar added. “Everybody in this film is just on the top of their game across the board. It was a really pleasant environment to work in.”
At the movie’s New York City premiere on Aug. 6, Baldoni told Entertainment Tonight that he felt there were “better people” suited to direct the sequel to “It Ends With Us.”
In October 2022, Hoover picked up where “It Ends With Us” left off and published “It Starts With Us,” centering on the relationship with Lily and Atlas. It has not been confirmed whether a sequel is in the works.
“I think Blake Lively’s ready to direct, that’s what I think,” Baldoni told Entertainment Tonight, adding that: “This isn’t my night — this is a night for all the women who we made this movie for. This is a night for Blake, this is a night for Colleen. I’m just so grateful that we’re here, five years in the making.”
On Thursday, in an interview with the TODAY show, Baldoni continued to praise his co-star, saying that while Lively is “best known as an actress” and “fashion icon,” she’s “so much more than that.”
“She’s dynamic, creative. She had her hands in every part of this production and everything she touched, she made better,” Baldoni said.
In an interview published on Today.com, Baldoni said “every movie is a miracle. And then, of course, you’re navigating complex personalities and trying to get everybody on the same page with the same vision. And mistakes are always made, and then you figure out how to move past them.”
He added he approached leading the adaptation of Hoover’s 2016 novel from a collaborative space. “I’m a ‘best idea wins’ person,” Baldoni said, “and I always have been, to a fault.”
The actor said that at times he felt as though people on set wondered “if I know what I’m doing or if I have a point of view, because I’m so willing to have my vision changed.”
“You don’t have to listen to everybody and that didn’t happen all the time,” he said, “but there were just moments where I would get out of the way too much.”
But while Baldoni served as the director and producer for “It Ends With Us,” it was Reynolds who Lively praised for his creative contributions to the project.
“The iconic rooftop scene, my husband actually wrote it,” Lively revealed to E! News at the New York City premiere. “Nobody knows that, but you now.”
“We help each other,” Lively added. “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.”
The film’s screenwriter, Christy Hall, also spoke to People magazine about that specific scene and said she wasn’t aware Reynolds had any part in writing that scene.
“There were a couple of little things that I thought had been improvised. Like when he says, ‘Pretty please with a cherry on top,’ and she talks about the maraschino cherries. When I saw a cut, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cute. That must have been a cute improvised thing.’ So if I’m being told that Ryan wrote that, then great, how wonderful,” the screenwriter said.
“There were a few little flourishes that I did not write, but I assumed that they had been improvised on set,” Hall added. “But, again, like I said, the moments that I felt like needed to be honored are there. So I recognize the scene and I’m proud of the scene. And if those flourishes came from Ryan, I think that’s wonderful.”
Contributing: Patrick Ryan and Pamela Avila, USA TODAY
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