Blake Lively and her 'It Ends With Us' director Justin Baldoni are rumored to have fallen out — and fans can't stop talking about it (2024)

Here's everything we know about the situation.

Baldoni has been largely absent from press events with other cast members

Rumors that there could be bad blood between the "Jane the Virgin" star and Lively began swirling after fans noticed that the two hadn't been promoting the film together. In fact, the two have seemingly not interacted once during the press tour.

Lively has teamed up with costars Brandon Sklenar and Isabela Ferrer for press events, as well as Colleen Hoover, the author of the book the film is based on, for interviews and TV spots. Baldoni, on the other hand, has been doing a lot of solo press.

Both attended the New York premiere but chose not to be photographed together. Instead, Lively posed with her castmates, Hoover, her husband Reynolds, and his "" costar, Hugh Jackman.

Baldoni, meanwhile, was only photographed with his wife and some of the other producers who worked on the film.

While speaking to Entertainment Tonight on the carpet at the New York premiere, Baldoni explained why he was stepping back from the limelight.

"This isn't my night — this is a night for all the women who we made this movie for," he said." This is a night for Blake, this is a night for Colleen. I'm just so grateful that we're here, five years in the making."

But fans appeared to not take notice of these comments, or consider the possibility Baldoni may have felt uneasy centering the attention on himself, given his character's storyline in the movie.

One TikTok video analyzing the premiere and the potential drama has picked up millions of views. "There is clearly something going on with this movie," the TikToker says.

Baldoni did not attend the UK premiere of the movie.

Most of the movie's cast don't appear to follow Baldoni on Instagram

As a user on the r/ColleenHoover subreddit pointed out recently, Lively and Hoover do not follow Baldoni on Instagram. Business Insider could not verify whether they had previously followed him.

Neither do some of the other stars from the film, including Brandon Sklenar, Isabela Ferrer, and Jenny Slate. For his part, Baldoni follows all of them except Hoover.

It's made fans wonder if the beef is one-sided or whether Baldoni is at the center of a wider fracture, especially since, during pre-production, Hoover and Baldoni appeared on each other's Instagram feeds multiple times.

Adding to this theory is a clip of Slate seemingly sidestepping a question about Baldoni at the movie's New York premiere. Asked about having Baldoni as both a scene partner and a director, she responded by not mentioning Baldoni and instead speaking about how "intense" it must be to do both jobs.

According to sources, there are two different cuts of the movie

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the origin of the fracture may be the different directions those involved wanted to take the movie in.

A source told the publication that two different cuts of the movie emerged during the postproduction process.

One cut, commissioned by Lively, came from "Deadpool & Wolverine" editor Shane Reid, multiple sources told the outlet. He is the same editor Lively previously used when she directed the music video for Taylor Swift's "I Bet You Think About Me."

The final cut of the film, however, has been credited to editors Oona Flaherty and Robb Sullivan.

It's unclear if any of Reid's cut was used in the film version showing in theaters, but according to one source who spoke to THR, the team was in agreement on the final cut.

Lively credited her husband, Ryan Reynolds, with unofficially contributing to the film

Baldoni has spoken about the collaborative nature of the film, telling Today in an interview published on August 9 that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, contributed significantly to the film. While Lively is credited as a producer, Reynolds is not.

"You can't summarize Blake's contribution in a sentence, because her energy and imprint is all over the movie and really, really made the film better, and from beginning to end," Baldoni said.

While he didn't say exactly how Reynolds contributed, Baldoni said that he was "so generous" and "a creative genius."

Asked if he would work with the pair again, he replied: "If they'd have me."

Lively herself has been open about her husband's contribution, revealing to E! News that the MCU star helped pen the opening scene of "It Ends With Us."

This appeared to come as a surprise to screenwriter Christy Hall, who told People that she wasn't aware that Reynolds had written some of the dialogue used in the final version of the script.

"When I saw a cut, I was like, 'Oh, that's cute. That must have been a cute improvised thing,'" Hall said. "So if I'm being told that Ryan wrote that, then great, how wonderful."

Baldoni said he thinks Lively is ready to direct the sequel to "It Ends With Us"

In his Today interview, Baldoni also hinted at how he struggled to balance allowing collaboration and having his voice drowned out entirely.

He said: "You don't have to listen to everybody and that didn't happen all the time, but there were just moments where I would get out of the way too much."

While Lively has yet to discuss how she contributed to the film beyond her scope as a producer, Baldoni said he thought she'd be ready to take the reins on a sequel.

(Baldoni has confirmed to Variety his production company, Wayfarer Studios, has optioned adapting Hoover's book sequel, "It Starts with Us.")

"I think that there are better people for that one," Baldoni said when asked by Entertainment Tonight if he was up for adapting the 2022 follow-up novel.

"I think Blake Lively's ready to direct, that's what I think," he added.

Lively and Baldoni clashed during filming, according to sources close to production

On the day "It Ends With Us" was released in theaters, Page Six reported that the two talents didn't see eye-to-eye while shooting the movie.

According to an anonymous source in the industry quoted by the publication, Baldoni made the "Gossip Girl" star feel "uncomfortable" about her postpartum body during filming.

Another unnamed industry source said that Baldoni created an "extremely difficult" environment for the entire cast.

"It's not just Blake. "None of the cast enjoyed working with Justin," the source is quoted as stating. "They certainly didn't talk to him at the premiere."

Separately, a source close to the set told People on that "all is not what it seems."

"There is much more to this story," they said. "The principal cast and Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with him."

A studio source appeared to confirm to Page Six that two different cuts of the film were made — while also playing down the reported issues over this.

"As a producer, Blake was given the opportunity to provide edits and feedback to the film. It's completely normal for there to be multiple edits of a film," the source said.

"Sony went with the cut they deemed to be the best, and that was a cut that included Blake's edits, and all parties were on board," they said.

Baldoni recruited a PR crisis manager — who represented Johnny Depp during the Amber Heard trial

The actor recently hired veteran PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which reported the news on August 13.

Nathan, who represented Johnny Depp during the Amber Heard trial in 2022, recently launched her own agency, which specializes in crisis communications and reputation management.

A clip of Lively acting hostile toward a reporter in a 2016 interview resurfaced amid the 'It Ends With Us' drama

Journalist Kjersti Flaa released a clip of an interview with Blake Lively on August 10, titled "The Blake Lively interview that made me want to quit my job."

"It actually took me a while to get over the experience," Flaa told Business Insider in an email on August 19.

"Every time I entered a room after this I got nervous that something similar might happen again," she wrote.

One of the stars of the movie put out a statement asking people to stop focusing on 'what may or may not have happened'

Brandon Sklenar, who plays Lively's other love interest in "It Ends With Us," became the first cast member to speak out about the film's controversy after he shared an Instagram post on August 20.

"I wanted to take a minute and address all this stuff swirling online," he wrote, going on to condemn people for "vilifying" women who were part of the film.

"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," he continued.

"This film is meant to inspire. It's meant to validate and recognize," he added. "It is not meant to once again, make women the 'bad guy,' let's move beyond that together."

Representatives for Baldoni, Lively, Reynolds, Hoover, and Sklenar did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.