It’s a legal battle which has set social media alight as people debate who was really in the wrong.
Recently, DailyMail.com shared exclusive footage showing Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni behind the scenes of It Ends With Us. Fans have taken notice, particularly focusing on Blake’s behavior in the video.
Despite some viewers acknowledging that Blake appears uneasy in the footage, they haven’t hesitated to criticize her for supposedly making snarky remarks to her co-star and the director during a romantic montage scene. Blake allegedly accused Justin of deviating from the script when the microphones were not recording.
Contrary to Blake’s claim, the video from DailyMail.com revealed that the actors’ microphones were actually switched on, capturing their impromptu conversation that filled the quiet moment in the scene.
The clips show Blake joking to Justin that should ‘address’ his big nose and call his medical insurance to ‘deal with that’.
Later the pair are seen speaking about their respective spouses and Blake brands him a ‘sociopath’ for enjoying long periods of silence with his wife where they simply look into each others’ eyes.
Others have pointed out that Justin was the director and that Blake constantly interrupted him by coming out of charcater and going against his vision for the scene by saying they should just talk instead of kissing.
Fans also raged at Blake’s insistence to drive the narrative of the unscripted scene, as Justin wanted it to be intimate and silent while she wanted them to be seen talking.
This same argument is made in Baldoni’s lawsuit against the actress, which describes her as ‘consistently unable to take direction’.
According to the suit, she ‘really liked the idea of the characters constantly talking’ even though ‘Baldoni, her director, and the film’s assistant director (who was directing the scene) disagreed’.
According to the filing: ‘Lively continued arguing and tried to direct him for the scene. while they were supposed to be in character filming the scene.
‘At some point Heath and another producer, irritated, called Baldoni aside to express they can’t capture the intended “shot” because Lively wouldn’t stop talking.
‘He was instructed to somehow get her to stop. While there was a brief verbal exchange, Baldoni, heeding the instruction of their Assistant Director and producers, continued to try to bring them back into character.
‘As they were acting in this montage scene, Lively continued to break character and speak as herself rather than as Lily, which was extremely confusing for Baldoni, who was trying to balance directing the scene within his artistic vision while also acting in character while filming and trying to get Lively to do the same.’
Clips of the montage also show how Blake mentions Justin’s nose, something the actor says in his lawsuit he has long been insecure about.
The scene begins with the pair nuzzling noses for the romantic montage, which is seen in the film in slow motion, before she pulls away and says: ‘I feel so nosey, I mean it’s just like noses.’
‘I know – and my nose is so big,’ Justin replies, laughing, to which Blake jokes: ‘Yes I was hoping that we could address this, it’s not too late.
‘Just gotta shut it down, gotta call an insurance month and just deal with that… and then um – Just kidding.’
Fans felt the comment about Justin’s nose was uncalled for as they said: ‘She told him to have a nose job ( rhinoplasty) because his nose is so big ! That’s rude,’;
‘They got Blake lively in 4K telling Justin Baldoni he needs a nose job but she cited body shaming in her complaint cuz he asked how much she weighed for a scene he had to lift her in.. yikes,’;
‘Nose jobs need to become illegal Justin Baldoni’s nose isn’t even that bad? But apparently he’s been insecure about it his whole life and Blake is on footage taking a dig at his nose & telling him to getting it done? bruh ppl are meant to have the noses they are born with.’
‘The nose comment was so rude. He was so uncomfortable by that,’; ‘Blake Lively is a mean girl. She love to mock others.’
Later in DailyMail.com’s exclusive clip, Blake and Justin embark on a conversation about their respective spouses Ryan Reynolds and Emily Baldoni.
Blake suggests that the pair talk to each other as they film a slow-motion clip of them slow dancing in a bar, while Justin thinks not talking and being closer physically is more intimate.
‘I think it’s nice to talk,’ Blake says. ‘No I think’s more romantic because then you’re like what are they saying?’
‘Well we have no issue talking most of the time,’ Justin adds, to which Blake remarks: ‘Yeah and you’re like “What are they saying? I must know… I must know what they’re saying”.’
Justin turns the conversation to Blake’s husband as he says: ‘They’ll never know in slow motion. They’re never gonna find out. I know you and Ryan talk all the time.’
‘Oh my gosh we don’t shut up,’ Blake says laughing, as Justin adds: ‘And Emily and I have like… we have these moments where…’
‘Staring? You’re just staring?’ Blake asks.
Justin continues: ‘For ten… literally we’ve done it for like five minutes. It’s like, I think you would find it terrifying. It’s like literally, we just look at each other… and then time stops.’
In response to Justin saying she would find it terrifying, Blake says: ‘Yeah I’d be like “Oh no I found a sociopath”.’
Blake was again called out by a fan for the comment, as they wrote: ‘I see @blakelively trying to direct the director, calling him a sociopath for looking into his wife’s eyes while slow dancing, & telling him to get a nose job.’
Other fans were confused that Blake appeared to be taking direction of the scene and asking for them to be talking, despite Justin being the director.
They said: ‘It seemed like she couldn’t stop herself from directing even though that wasn’t her job.
‘Without knowing too much about this whole fiasco – on purpose – am I out of line to ask why Blake Lively is directing her co-stars in the middle of a scene? That comes across as entirely unprofessional. Its an insult to the actual director whose job it is to, you know, direct the actors.’
But supporters of the actress were quick to point out the context of the so-called ‘mean girl’ comments, as they jumped to Blake’s defence.
They said: ‘HE was the one who said he had a big nose after she said what they were doing felt nosey … and she made a joke once he said that.. to me it looks like he was improvising again without her knowing and she was uncomfortable and said it felt nosey to stop it,’;
‘He said that she would find it terrifying how him and his wife stare at each other; she laughed and said “Yah, I’d be like, ‘Oh no, I found a sociopath!’!” But his complaint claims Justin told her how he and his wife stare at each other, and Blake responded “like sociopaths,” which Justin “laughed off”,’;
‘His complaint says she said “like sociopaths” when he said him and his wife love to stare, which he “brushed off.” what actually happened was that he said she would find it terrifying how him and his wife stare, and she said “It’s like, ‘Oh no, I found a sociopath'”,’;
‘Justin Baldoni continues to divert the focus from Blake Lively’s accusation, he has not denied it and has chosen to discredit her by claiming she is a mean girl. Seeing women on social media doing the dirty campaign against her is disgusting. Once again, dragging the victim,’;
‘Justin Baldoni saying nothing about the sexual harassment claims, but trying to shift the narrative back to “Blake Lively is a mean girl” tells me a lot actually.’
‘At first I thought they were just acting and Blake was giving herself tons of self importance… But then I read the intimacy towards the end wasn’t agreed, and you can notice he tries to kiss her but she doesn’t go for it. She makes the nose comment to get him away from her,’;
‘Blake cited this scene as one example of him going off-script, not an example of sexual misconduct (but his lawyer is telling the public otherwise),’;
‘By mislabelling this as an accusation, Freedman convinces the public that this is the worst thing mentioned and therefore there is no reason for someone to read the actual lawsuit.’
Blake broke her silence on the recent footage where she claimed it proves that she was uncomfortable during the scene.
‘Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning,’ her legal team shared in a statement with DailyMail.com.
Her team claims the video ‘shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character.’
‘Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.’
Blake’s lawyer also added that none of the intimacy shown in the video from the film was 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.’
Blake’s legal team claims that her ‘leaning away’ from Justin during the scene was not acting, and that the clips shows her ‘repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk.’
‘Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort.’
‘They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.’
DailyMail.com’s exclusive footage is the latest revelation in a lengthy saga that began with rumours of rancour behind the scenes of It Ends With Us when it was released last August.
It then exploded into a legal fight just before Christmas when Blake sued Justin for sexual harassment.
At the same time, the New York Times released a story based on Blake’s legal filing that accused him of orchestrating a negative publicity campaign against her and put the smell claim front and centre.
In turn, Justin sued the Times for defamation and, last week, launched a $400m lawsuit against Blake and her husband Ryan Reynolds that accused her of using her celebrity power to hijack his film and attempt to torpedo his career.
