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Justin Baldoni gushed over his It Ends with Us co-star, Blake Lively, calling her a “dynamic creative” after rumors of an on-set feud percolated online.
Directed by and starring Baldoni, the new movie is an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 romance, which follows Lily Bloom (Lively) as she fulfills her lifelong dream of opening a flower shop. After a chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle (Baldoni), Lily falls madly in love, and the two start a whirlwind romance. But when Lily’s first love Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) re-enters her life, she’s left with an impossible choice.
During a recent appearance on the Today show in promotion of the film, Baldoni, 40, praised Lively’s intelligence and creativity. Lively is also credited as a co-producer on the movie.
“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 of the 36-year-old Gossip Girl alum. “She is a dynamic creative. She had her hands in every part of this production, and everything she touched made better.”
Baldoni’s laudatory comments come amid speculation that he’s been “shunned” by Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds over creative differences.
On TikTok, a user named Jenna Redfield shared a video analyzing the film’s August 6 premiere, during which Lively and Baldoni did not take a picture together.
Redfield pointed out that Baldoni and Lively share a mutual friend in the writer Liz Plank who co-hosts the Man Enough podcast with Baldoni. Plank attended the premiere of It Ends With Us, but only shared photos of Lively.
Some fans have also noted that Baldoni is following Lively, Hoover and Reynolds on Instagram, while none of them appear to be following him.
Additionally, some have taken Lively’s recent interview remarks that Reynolds wrote the movie’s “iconic rooftop scene” as evidence that he stepped in and tried to take creative control away from Baldoni.
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“We help each other. He works on everything I do,” The Age of Adaline actor said of her husband. “I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his.”
The Independent has contacted Baldoni, Lively and Reynolds’s representatives for comment.
Early critical reviews of the movie have so far been middling. “This Colleen Hoover adaptation is sincere but completely ludicrous,” The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote in her two-star review. “This tale of a dramatic love triangle between characters named Lily Bloom, Atlas Corrigan and Ryle Kincaid can’t square its violent themes with its inherent silliness.”
It Ends with Us is out in theaters on Friday (August 9).
