A nasty harassment lawsuit and public Hollywood public relations war erupted between the stars of sleeper hit “It Ends With Us.” Blake Lively asserts that her co-star/director Justin Baldoni (both pictured above) sexually harassed her during production of the romantic drama, which fittingly examines an abusive relationship.
The bitter off-camera exchange is fueled by unearthed confidential email and text messages of the two talent’s representatives (see accompanying text tables that follow). Baldoni is now taking the bigger drubbing in press coverage, since the film’s major-studio distributor, cast/crew and author of the movie’s source book publicly side with Lively.
Lively asserts that she’s target of a “smear campaign” in her 80-page complaint that surfaced Dec. 21 after Lively was a lightning rod for bad press months ago. Lively’s complaint alleges that Baldoni’s crisis PR handler “(Melissa) Nathan pitched a four-month battle plan with a $175,000 price tag to ‘start threads of theories’ on platforms like Reddit and TikTok in Baldoni’s favor, and to create ‘social fan engagement to go back and forth with any negative accounts, helping to change [sic] narrative and stay on track.’”
“It Ends With Us,” a film adaptation of the best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover, grossed $351 million worldwide for Sony Pictures, a surprising haul for an unheralded movie that cost just $25 million to make. The movie premiered domestically Aug. 9 and is audience-classified PG-13.
The lawsuit comes after news reports late summer of on-set tensions during making of “It Ends With Us.” Lively and Baldoni never did publicity for the film together, and journalists noted talent from the film avoided Baldoni in press events. A New York Times expose published Dec. 21 ignited a news-media frenzy. Lively also alleges misconduct by the lead producer of the movie, Jamey Heath.
In the #MeToo era of industry cracking down on sex harassment, such matters were supposed to be on the wane in Hollywood. The Hollywood actors union upgraded rules governing intimacy, including having on-set intimacy coordinators to oversee. And the current imbroglio is unusual because publicists and other collateral professionals are getting dragged directly into litigation, and being accused of misconduct.
Justin Baldoni’s Supporting Cast
- attorney Bryan Freedman
- voices vigorous defense and promises counter-lawsuit; his other clients include Obamas/Higher Ground Prods., Quintin Tarantino and TV host Megyn Kelly
- William Morris Agency
- drops Baldoni as client; WME also reps Lively
- Hollywood publicist Melissa Nathan/TAG PR
- crisis communications expert that is sued by prior publicist Jonesworks; TAG’s clients included Johnny Depp and Drake
- publicist Jennifer Abel/RWA Communications
- Baldoni’s personal publicist whose emails figure prominently in Lively’s complaint; former Jonesworks employee
- initial PR firm Steph Jones/Jonesworks
- ex-publicist sues Baldoni alleging non-pay and claims smear by his current publicists, who are also named defendants
- female empowerment non-profit organization Vital Voices
- rescinds award given to Baldoni a few weeks earlier after Lively complaint
- podcaster Liz Plank
- resigns as Baldoni’s co-host of their “The Man Enough” podcast
The public relations and legal battle also veered into movie marketing issues. According to Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman, the producer of the movie Wayfarer Studios “made the decision to proactively hire a crisis manager prior to the marketing campaign of the film, to work alongside their own representative with Jonesworks employed by Stephanie Jones, due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production which included her threatening to not showing up to set, threatening to not promote the film, ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met.”
Blake Lively’s Supporting Cast
- Leslie Sloane/Vision PR
- Hollywood publicist currently representing Lively; assailed by the Baldoni camp
- Sony Pictures
- distributor of the movie issues statement generally siding with Lively
- actors union SAG-AFTRA
- issues statement supporting Lively (Baldoni is repped by the same union)
- author Colleen Hoover
- “It Ends With Us” novelist publicly sides with Lively
- Lively’s attorneys
- five lawyers from two heavyweight law firms file her 80-page complaint
- actor Ryan Reynolds
- star of “Deadpool” is married to Lively and was involved in meetings about on-set harassment
The Freedman statement continues: “It was also discovered that Ms. Lively enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan with Vision PR, who also represents [Lively’s husband Ryan] Reynolds, to plant negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media, even prior to any marketing had commenced for the film, which was another reason why Wayfarer Studios made the decision to hire a crisis professional to commence internal scenario planning in the case they needed to address.”
Freedman promises that Baldoni will refute charges in a soon-to-be-filed counter complaint and reveal skullduggery by the Lively camp.
Hollywood inside news outfit TMZ boiled down the film promotion disagreement to this: “There was a huge conflict over how [“It Ends With Us”] would be marketed. Blake Lively wanted a more upbeat pitch about her character’s resilience, as per the marketing plan, whereas Baldoni wanted the focus to be on domestic violence and chose to go off script from the plan.”
In what is unusual, Sony Pictures and the film’s producer Wayfarer allowed Lively to fashion her own cut of the film, supplying her own editors and music composers. She added a song from Taylor Swift, who is a friend. That’s normally the purview of the director and producers. Even more unusual, Lively’s version was adopted by Sony and the producer, which meant they passed over Baldoni’s vision as director. Lively got a coveted producer’s credit for her unexpected behind-the-cameras work.
Baldoni’s prior credits include satirical comedy TV series “Jane the Virgin” and many TV/film acting gigs. Lively starred in TV’s “Gossip Girl” and has 45 million Instagram followers. Both are midlevel Hollywood stars for whom “It Ends With Us” should elevate to true star. Instead, the legacy of this movie will be the behind-the-camera nastiness.
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