In case you thought the legal battle between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively appeared to be (finally) boiling over, let us be the bearers of bad news.
A new video — understood to have been provided by Justin’s legal team to a number of US outlets — has thrown more fuel to the fire this week with behind-the-scenes footage from their film It Ends With Us.
The footage of a slow-dancing scene addresses allegations in Lively’s December 2024 lawsuit, where she claimed Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck” in this scene and allegedly told her “it smells so good”.
She claimed that when she later objected to his behaviour, he responded with “I’m not even attracted to you”.
You can have a peep at the footage here:
Raw footage of the pair on set. Source: Entertainment Tonight
Lively’s lawsuit alleges these incidents took place when the actors were out of character and that the scene did not require dialogues.
The complaint also accused him of mounting a smear campaign against her.
As reported by Us Weekly, the footage this week seems to be Baldoni’s team’s effort to clear the air and refute Lively’s claims. The video, which hit the internet on Tuesday, kicks off with a title that directly addresses the allegations.
“Ms Lively’s complaint alleges that during a scene Mr Baldoni and Ms Lively were filming for a slow dance montage, Mr Baldoni was behaving inappropriately,” it reads.
“The following videos captured on May 2023, 2023 clearly refute Ms Lively’s characterisation of his behaviour. The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another.
“Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.
“These are all three takes filmed of the sequence.”
So what’s in the video? Well, it’s a bunch of candid moments from the scene in question, showing Baldoni and Lively smiling and laughing as they film the scene.
Lively eventually suggests it would be “more romantic” if the pair were talking as they dance.
Shortly after, at the end of one take, she appears awkward about dancing so close to him and says “it’s like, just noses”.
He responds his nose is “so big” as they both laugh, and Lively quips: “It’s not too late. Just gotta shut down. Gotta call an insurance month, and just deal with that. Just kidding.” Classic on-set banter…?
Baldoni and Lively on the set of ‘It Ends with Us’ in January, 2024. (Source: Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Baldoni continues to joke they even hired actor Jenny Slate to play his on-screen sister in the film for this very reason.
“That’s why we hired Jenny Slate, too. Our noses match,” Baldoni says.
Die-hard fans of the controversy will recall Baldoni’s lawsuit against Lively last week also discussed alleged conversations about his nose, with Lively joking that he should get plastic surgery.
In another take, in which Baldoni does lean into her neck and ask if he’s “getting beard” on her, the actress can be heard saying “I’m probably getting spray tan on you”.
Baldoni responds “it smells good” to which she replies that it’s her body make-up.
The pair also discuss their respective spouses in the clip, with Baldoni teasing her that “I know you and Ryan [Reynolds] talk all the time”.
Responding to the footage in a statement to TMZ, Lively’s team emphasised the video is “damning” with every frame of the footage corroborating her claims.
They pointed out, once again, how none of the intimacy was discussed or choreographed.
“Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present. Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss,” they stated.
Lively leaning away from Baldoni during the scene was not acting, according to her legal team.
“The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort.”
However, in a statement to Us Weekly, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, doubled down on what the video seemingly depicts.
Baldoni’s legal team has gone on record numerous times, he said, and told the public “that Justin Baldoni and team has nothing to hide and this video, once more proves this”.
Baldoni and crew allegedly “banished to the basement” at the premiere. (Image: United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)
“Justin and team have the right to defend themselves with the truth and this is what we will be continuing to show with the upcoming website containing all correspondence as well as relevant videos that directly quash her claims,” he said, per Us Weekly.
Just last week, Baldoni also shared photos of his alleged exile to the basement during the film’s New York premiere.
According to Baldoni’s lawsuit, he and his crew were “ushered” into this makeshift holding area to avoid any run-ins with Lively on the red carpet.
The legal document states, “Surrounded by close friends, family, soda bottles, and a lot of love, the irony of being held in a basement on what was arguably one of the most important nights of Baldoni’s career thus far, was not lost on anyone”.
Look, we warned you it was getting all sorts of messyyy.
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