Yahoo Movies Blake Lively's It Ends With Us is a hit, but that's not why everyone's talking about it
Rumours of rifts and more have fuelled the flames of fan intrigue
Blake Lively's new movie It Ends With Us is on everyone's lips, but probably not for the reasons that author Colleen Hoover or the cast of the film adaptation were hoping for.
Rather than focus on the movie itself, people have become fascinated by what went on behind-the-scenes of the production. And rumours of rifts and resurfaced interviews have only served to further fuel the flames of fan intrigue.
The movie adapts Hoover's novel of the same name, which follows a woman named Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) who begins a relationship with Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), the pair's romance takes a dark turn though when Lily begins to experience domestic abuse from her other half. As a BookTok favourite, the film has been storming the box office and has already earned over $100m.
Here is what we know about the drama behind the film.
Rumours of a rift between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni
Controversy around the film first began when people noticed that the cast did not follow director, and star, Baldoni on social media. This doesn't necessarily point to an issue, per se, but it became telling for some people when they noticed that Baldoni also didn't do press with the cast, nor did he appear to take photos with them on the red carpet at the film's New York premiere.
Read more: It Ends With Us is a BookTok sensation, so why is the film controversial?
Jenny Slate, who plays Allysa in the film, seemingly avoided a question about Baldoni while speaking with Deadline on the red carpet. The actor answered a question about Baldoni both acting and directing in the film by saying she'd only want one job on a production, even if she's keen to write her own film one day. This apparent deflection was one of the early signs of a rift on set for some social media users.
While rumours between the cast and director simmered there came reports of a rift between Lively and Baldoni soon after. It was rumoured that the filmmaker made Lively feel "uncomfortable" on set over her postpartum figure, per Page Six.
TikTok user Jenna Redfield remarked that the pair avoided each other at the film's premiere, and a source also claimed to People that the principal cast and Hoover were keen to avoid him: "All is not what it seems. There is much more to this story. The principal cast and [author] Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with him."
This was only further supported, fans believed, by the fact that the pair did not do interviews together during the film's press tour.
Social media users began drawing their own conclusions from then on, but actor Brandon Sklenar did speak fondly about what it was like on set with People, saying: "Everybody in this film is just on the top of their game across the board. It was a really pleasant environment to work in."
Blake Lively promotes the film in her own way, and comes under fire for it
Another factor that led to some controversy is the way in which Lively has been promoting the film during the press tour. Rather than discuss the film's subject matter —of a woman experiencing domestic violence — Lively seemingly sidestepped it.
In interviews Lively spoke of her husband Ryan Reynolds' contribution to the movie, discussed borrowing his clothes for the press tour, and also launched a special edition of her beauty brand in collaboration with the film. The Gossip Girl star exuded a bubbly personality throughout her interviews as well, something that some people viewed as insensitive.
Lively's interviews led to people criticising her for not speaking about the film's subject matter when Baldoni did, and others remarked on Reynolds' involvement in the film being an apparently understandable catalyse for the alleged rift between the actor and director.
Despite backlash, Lively did speak about the film's domestic abuse storyline during the press tour. The actor spoke on the subject in an interview with the BBC, saying: "This movie covers domestic violence, but what’s important about this film is that she is not just a survivor and she’s not just a victim. And while those are huge things to be, they’re not her identity."
Lively also seemingly responded to criticism of her interviews during the press tour when she shared a statement about domestic violence on her social media accounts and shared details of domestic abuse helplines, something she has since been praised for.
Justin Baldoni hires a PR crisis manager
Amidst this controversy, reports emerged from The Hollywood Reporter that Baldoni began working with veteran crisis manager Melissa Nathan of The Agency Group over the alleged rift. Nathan notably worked with Johnny Depp during his court case against Amber Heard
Due to the PR manager's previous client, Baldoni drew further backlash from social media users.
Blake Lively is criticised for resurfaced interviews
Amidst the backlash that Lively faced for the way she promoted the film an interview resurfaced from 2016 that took the criticism a step further. Journalist Kjersti Flaa shared a clip from her chat with the actor and said she wanted to "quit her job" afterwards.
In the interview the journalist congratulated Lively, who was pregnant at the time, on her "little bump" to which the actor responded in kind by saying: "Congratulations on your little bump". The journalist has since revealed she was struggling with infertility at the time, and the admission led to Lively being branded "rude" by social media users.
After sharing the interview again, Flaa said: "I got so many questions from people asking why I decided to post that interview now, eight years later, and the reason for that is that I got contacted by another reporter who told me a story that was a little similar to this one that he had experienced and then we started talking about it and comparing notes.
"And then I felt like you know, it’s not ok to behave like that and I think it needs to be called out. Also, it took me a while to be honest with you to actually get over it, it affected me for a while because it made me nervous while interviewing other people after that."
Brandon Sklenar defends Blake Lively, hits out at social media users 'vilifying women'
In the wake of ongoing backlash towards Lively, her co-star Sklenar issued a statement on social media defending her and criticising people for "vilifying women".
He wrote: "I wanted to take a minute and address all this stuff swirling online. Colleen and the women of this cast stand for hope, perseverance, and for women choosing a better life for themselves. Vilifying the women who put so much of their heart and soul into making this film because they believe so strongly in its message seems counterproductive and detracts from what this film is about.
"It is, in fact, the opposite of the point. What may or may not have happened behind the scenes does not and hopefully should not detract from what our intentions were in making this film. It’s been disheartening to see the amount of negativity being projected online."
It Ends With Us is out in cinemas now.
