“It Ends with Us” came out last summer. Based on the book by Colleen Hoover, it became a must-see movie for many people.
The movie plot consists of a young woman, played by Blake Lively, facing domestic abuse and sexual harassment — a very real story many people may relate to.
However, months after release, the two leading actors, Lively and Justin Baldoni, have both filed lawsuits. The lawsuits consist of text receipts and allegations of lying and harassment that distract the film from its true message.
“It Ends with Us” came out last August and earned over $350 million at the box office. Quickly, reports came out about creative differences on set. It was obvious when Baldoni and Lively did not participate in any press together — Baldoni was always on the red carpet by himself, and everyone else was with Lively.
The most interesting part of the press tour was how the two were promoting the film. Baldoni seemed to focus on the domestic violence aspect, while Lively promoted the film differently. She took more of an upbeat stance on the movie, receiving harsh criticism for her ignorance.
Baldoni, the director of the film, received the first lawsuit on December 21 in which Lively accused him of sexual harassment and creating a “hostile work environment” during the making of the film.
According to the original lawsuit, Lively conducted a meeting during the making of the film in which she brought her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for support. The meeting consisted of Lively discussing “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior by Mr. Baldoni.”
Baldoni’s attorney, Brian Freedman, denied the allegations.
“These claims are completely false, outrageous, and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media,” Freedman said in a statement to CNN.
Baldoni responded with a $400 million lawsuit that claimed Lively purposefully used “negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media.”
These claims have just continued to escalate. There are many people involved in the film who are publicly backing Lively. The allegations have gone onto social media, where many people are guessing what has truly gone on behind the scenes.
All of the allegations seem like a blame fest. There are so many theories of who is lying in what part of their lawsuits. And so, I decided to watch the movie again. Disappointingly, I could only focus on the lawsuits. I remembered specific scenes that were noted as an issue.
I hate that this was the only thing I could think about. It made me think less of the film as a whole and everything it tried to acknowledge. It is such an intense story, but to have so many public theories and everyone commenting on it just invalidates the movie’s success.
The surrounding theories make it worse. Now, people aren’t talking about the movie, but they are talking about the lawsuits. You could argue it wouldn’t have received as much publicity as it did without the drama that came from the co-stars.
Baldoni and Lively need to stop publicly bashing each other more and more. Those two are the main advertisers of the movie and its message, and they are ruining it because of their own personal issues with one another. It’s not fair to all the people who worked so hard on the movie and deserve good feedback. This needs to be solved sooner rather than later because the movie will start to become less credible.