CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses domestic violence.
Are Blake Lively and the rest of the It Ends With Us cast beefing with director (and co-star) Justin Baldoni? TikTok seems to think so — and the evidence is pretty compelling. Not to sound too conspiratorial, but it feels like Don’t Worry Darling round two over here, so let’s dive in.
With the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover‘s best-selling novel hitting theatres, both Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni — plus co-stars Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar, and Isabela Ferrer — have been hitting the press tour hard. Also, Ryan Reynolds is there.
Yet internet sleuths on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) have been piecing together every hint that something is awry between the cast like it’s their full time job. Which is great, because it literally is my full time job.
So is there fire with all that smoke? Let’s dive in.
The It Ends With Us cast drama explained
There’s three key pieces of evidence going wild on TikTok right now, and that’s before you get to the Ryan Reynolds of it all.
1. Justin Baldoni has been AWOL at It Ends With Us promo
First up, let’s talk about Justin Baldoni. The man is both the star and director of It Ends With Us, yet he’s been MIA from most group promotional events.
Justin plays the role of Ryle in the film, the love interest of Lily Bloom played by Blake Lively, yet they haven’t been in any promo interviews together, despite being two of the romantic leads.
At the film’s premiere, Blake Lively could be seen living her best life on the red carpet. She was photographed with her husband Ryan Reynolds, his Deadpool co-star Hugh Jackman, her family, and her movie co-stars Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar, and Isabela Ferrer.
Justin, however, was only seen being photographed alone on the carpet or with his wife, leading fans to speculate that there’s some sort of tension between the cast.
2. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds supposedly unfollowed Justin Baldoni
Internet sleuths noticed that both Blake and her husband Ryan as well as the rest of the cast seemingly unfollowed Justin on Instagram.
In the world of celeb friendships, an unfollow is basically a declaration of war.
Author of the book It Ends With Us, Colleen Hoover, has also unfollowed Justin.
Meanwhile, Justin is still following them, leaving fans to wonder if he’s just not gotten the memo or if he’s playing it cool amidst the chaos.
3. Jenny Slate gave a weird AF interview about Justin Baldoni
Another reason the internet thinks something is off is because of a weird interview Jenny Slate gave on the red carpet of the film’s premiere in New York.
Jenny plays Ryle’s sister in the movie and when she was asked about working with Justin as both a scene partner and director, she basically just rambled a lot til she could dodge the question.
“I mean, what an intense job, like to have to do so many things!” Jenny starts off.
“I just found myself being like, ‘Wow, I really just wanna have one job at once.’ And in fact, I’ve often felt that way. Like, I really like writing… But yeah, I was looking around like, ‘I’m good with just acting.’”
It’s a hard watch knowing the rumoured context.
So what does Ryan Reynolds have to do with all this? Here are the TikTok theories
Unfortunately we will probably never know the real tea, but luckily for us, TikTok is keeping the fun going with theories as to why all this drama is going down.
The big one includes Blake and her husband Ryan Reynolds wanting more control over the movie.
Blake recently revealed that Ryan wrote a pivotal scene in the movie, which at first sounded cute but now fans are feeling some type of way about it.
“You literally can’t convince me that Ryan Reynolds isn’t the reason for all this Justin Baldoni/It Ends With Us drama, and I feel like Justin doesn’t want anything to do with the drama, and for that reason, has chosen a step back from the PR events leading up to the movie,” TikToker Arianna Lillie said in her video on the drama.
“And I’m not saying that Blake Lively has specifically been problematic, but I knew something was up the second I heard that Ryan Reynolds was coming in and rewriting scenes of a movie that Justin Baldoni is not only starring in, but also directing, and is the whole reason this project is happening.”
TikTok user Sofia Moon Scout has theorised that the drama is unfolding because Blake and Ryan wanted to use It Ends With Us to get an Oscar.
“They invested some capital in the film believing that by doing so, they could use that to gain creative control over the film,” Sofia wrote on TikTok.
“They tried to throw their weight around, but Sony had Justin’s back. That’s when they threatened to take their money and Blake off of the picture.”
Another theory for Justin’s absence comes from the group promos, which involves SPOILERS for anyone who hasn’t read the book.
Justin plays Ryle who is involved in domestic violence within the film and some fans think that the team might be avoiding promo for his character altogether so as to not glorify domestic violence. Which could make sense because TikTok will make a fan edit out of anything!
What has Justin said about all of this?
Justin has been open about Blake having a big influence on the project, telling People in April that there “wasn’t a part of this production that [Blake] didn’t touch and have influence on.”
“Everything that she put her hands on and her mind to, she made better.”
In fact, despite all the rumours, Justin has been nothing but lovely towards Blake.
He praised her as a “dynamic creative” and an executive producer who brought a lot to the table.
“I think she’s best known as an actress, and, of course, she’s a fashion icon, but she is so much more than that,” he said in a Today show interview.
As of now none of the cast, including Blake Lively, has commented on the rumours, but I for one am clocked in when it comes to finding more about this tea.
You can go check out It Ends With Us in Australian cinemas from August 8th.
Help is available.
- If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
- If you’d like to speak to someone about domestic violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
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The post Is Blake Lively Beefing With Her It Ends With Us Director Justin Baldoni? TikTok Thinks So appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
