If you thought we’d reached the conclusion of the It Ends With Us dialogue, you thought wrong. Director and lead actor Justin Baldoni has opened up about his struggles on set that almost led to a “breakdown”.
Speaking to Elizabeth Day on the How To Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast, the 40-year-old explained that his experience simultaneously acting and directing the film almost brought him to breaking point.
“Directing is a very lonely job, I’ll just be very candid because you are kind of at the top of this totem pole,” the Jane The Virgin star said.
“In your moments of quiet, everybody has a thousand questions for you and also nobody wants to disturb you. And you don’t really have many people to talk to and you can’t necessarily share your anxiety or your nervousness about something because you’re also the leader.”
He also touched on how difficult it was to step into the mind of such a dark character like Ryle.
“It’s a very strange place to be, let alone directing while trying to play a character who does the things that Ryle does in the movie. There were moments in the filming of this where I would just have to leave. I’d have to remove myself and go shake it out,” he said, noting that he did somatic therapy — a type of therapy where you physically shake out the bad energy from your body.
“There’s a moment in the movie where Ryle finds Lily’s phone and he finds a phone number and he’s very jealous and he’s heartbroken and he’s angry. And he doesn’t harm her, but you can see in his eyes how dangerous he is. After that scene, I had a near breakdown.
“I had to leave and just cry and shake because there was so much pain.”
Baldoni said that it took him about four months to be totally able to shake himself from his character
“I had dreams as him for a while and it lived in my body but I think for the most part, he’s out.”
In case you missed the drama, It Ends With Us was a film about domestic violence and emotional abuse starring Baldoni and Blake Lively, based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover.
Although the film was released in August, it was plagued by rumours that there was beef on set after fans noticed that Lively and Baldoni weren’t doing press together. It also received widespread critique that the film — and its stars — did not provide enough warning over its triggering themes.
Although neither of the stars addressed the rumours head-on, they did hint at some drama going on behind the scenes.
In an interview with Elle, Baldoni admitted it was “hard” and there was “friction” working with different personalities on set.
“There’s always friction that happens when you make a movie like this. Then at the end of the day, it’s that friction, I believe, that creates the beautiful art.”
You can find a full rundown on the rumoured It Ends With Us drama HERE and I swear, it’s more dramatic than the damn plot.
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