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‘Age of Adaline’ Premiere: Blake Lively Likes to Bake on Friday Nights

“The Age of Adaline,” a drama about an immortal woman which premiered at New York’s Loews Lincoln Square on Sunday night, marks Blake Lively’s first bigscreen role since 2012’s “Savages.”

The star of “Gossip Girl” explained why she’s been selective when it comes to her career. “I look for a movie that I can’t not do,” says Lively, was in the running for “Silver Linings Playbook” but lost the part to Jennifer Lawrence (and later gave birth in December 2014). “There are plenty of movies that you read and think, ‘I could kind of see doing this.’ But there are few movies that you read and think, ‘I can’t not be in this film.’”

Director Lee Toland Krieger said he first read the script for “Adaline” six or seven years ago, when he had one feature (“The Vicious Kind”) under his belt. At the time, the producers at Lakeshore Entertainment wouldn’t meet with him, but they reconsidered when they saw his 2012 Sundance dramedy “Celeste & Jesse Forever.” Toland Krieger finally landed the job after putting together a “mood reel” that convinced them he could move through the story’s period changes from 1908 to 2015.

Toland Krieger says the first call he received was from Lively’s team — she’d read the script and wanted to play Adaline — and he talked to the actress. “She’s a bit of an old soul herself,” Toland Krieger says. “She’d rather be baking on a Friday night than out partying. She’s a statuesque timeless beauty a la Veronica Lake. She could seamlessly move between the eras [in the film].”

Harrison Ford, who didn’t attend the premiere, also liked the script and signed on for a supporting role, which he slipped into his schedule before shooting the new “Star Wars.”

Michiel Huisman, who plays the male romantic lead, said he had to audition and was cast only three weeks before the Lionsgate release started shooting. “Thank God I convinced them,” said the “Game of Thrones” hunk. “I’ve worked on a lot of TV stuff, but I’m secretly hoping to make the jump to movies.”

He added: “I know how ‘Game of Thrones’ ends [this season]. You’re going to go nuts.”

The after-party was held at the Metropolitan Club.

(Pictured: Blake Lively and Michiel Huisman)

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