This story contains descriptions of harassment and abusive behavior. If you or someone you know is experiencing relationship abuse in any form, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline for free, confidential support 24/7/365. Text START to 88788, call 1-800-799-SAFE(7233) or chat online at TheHotline.org.
Director and star of the new movie It Ends With Us is opening up about the inspiration behind the film and who he hopes it helps the most.
Justin Baldoni, who both directs and stars in the book-to-screen adaptation, told People in an exclusive interview that he's judging the success of the film by a "metric that oftentimes goes unnoticed."
“If it's just a big commercial success, that's on one side of it," he told the publication. "The other side of it, for both [production company] Wayfarer Studios and myself is…it's about that one person who's in a similar situation to Lily.”
Baldoni went on to say that he hopes viewers who see the film and who are themselves facing instances of domestic and intimate partner violence will be inspired by the main character, Lily Bloom (played by Blake Lively) and end up making "a different choice for themself."
“(It's for anyone) who goes to see this movie with her friends and doesn't go back home," he explained.
In the book and subsequent film, Lively's character grew up in a home plagued by domestic violence—her mother, like so many abuse victims, was unable to walk away from the situation. In the book, her mother's abuse only ends with her father dies.
Later in life, Lively's character (a florist) meets a charming neurosurgeon (played by Baldoni) who, like her father, is also abusive. In the book, it was crucial to author Colleen Hoover that Baldoni's character be "painfully human."
"People spend so much time wondering why the women don't leave," Hoover said in an interview with BBC. "Where are all the people who wonder why the men are even abusive?"
When Baldoni read the novel, he told People he can remember thinking that it "could be such an empowering film."
"I just remember being so moved and so touched and so inspired by Lily's choice," he recalled, adding that he thought about both his daughter and his son while reading the book and following Bloom's experience and ultimate decision.
"When my daughter was born and I held her for the first time, it felt like my birth,” he continued. “And then my son was born, and it feels like every day I'm presented a mirror. To have that mirror held up to my face every day is the biggest challenge and the biggest blessing of my life.
"I don't think this is a movie that's just for women," he added. "I think this is a movie for everybody.”
