Are Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni feuding?
For a few days now, the internet has been buzzing with theories that Lively and other members of the It Ends With Us cast are at odds with the movie's director and star, Baldoni. While nobody has directly confirmed that a feud is in fact underfoot, sources have spoken out about the situation.
While some of the issue has been put down to "creative differences" between Lively and Baldoni in particular, one set source told People that there's a lot more happening there. "All is not what it seems," they said. "There is much more to this story. The principal cast and [author] Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with him."
It Ends With Us was released on Friday, and rumors of a feud began sprouting up during the promo for the film.
While promoting it, Baldoni gave interviews by himself, while Lively was typically paired with the actor who plays her love interest in the movie, Brandon Sklenar. People began commenting about this online, and things have escalated from there.
Last week, The Hollywood Reporter spoke to sources who said "there was a fracture among the filmmakers in the postproduction process, wherein two different cuts of the movie emerged." (Lively was a producer on the film, making her a "filmmaker.")
Another of the movie's stars, Jenny Slate, further provoked the rumor mill when, during the premiere, she side-stepped a question about what it was like to work with Baldoni since he was both the director and an actor. "I mean, what an intense job, like to have to do so many things," she said. "I really just wanna have one job at once. And in fact I've often felt that way, like I really like writing, and I like it so much and it's special to be able to be a writer, but like, yeah, I was looking around and being like, 'I'm good with just acting.' I really—I love it! I just wanna do it."
Jenny Slate on working with Justin Baldoni, who served as both scene partner and director to the actress in #ItEndsWithUsMovie pic.twitter.com/c77v83OgzBAugust 7, 2024
Speaking of the premiere, Baldoni wasn't pictured with any of the cast members, while the others posed together. This of course has brought on a ton of commentary in and of itself.
For his part, Baldoni has been full of praise for Lively, telling Entertainment Tonight that he wasn't sure about directing the book's sequel, It Starts With Us, and instead naming the Gossip Girl alum as a possible candidate for the job.
"I think that there are better people for that one," he said. "I think Blake Lively's ready to direct, that's what I think."
There are a lot of moving parts to these rumors, and we'll just have to stay tuned for what comes next.
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