The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is undoubtedly one of the most discussed topics right now. In December 2024, the actress filed a lawsuit against the director, producer, and co-star of It Ends With Us and his associates, alleging sexual harassment, retaliation, and a wide range of charges.
In response, the director denied all the claims and filed a counterclaim against Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist Leslie Sloane, mainly for defamation, civil extortion, and invasion of privacy, among other charges.
Now, Entertainment Tonight has obtained new footage from the set, leaked by Baldoni’s legal team, aimed at discrediting the sexual harassment accusations made during the filming. Lively had claimed that during the filming, Baldoni improvised kissing scenes and other intimate interactions, in addition to making inappropriate comments to her and the rest of the crew.
The Leaked Footage from It Ends With Us
In the 10-minute clip, the footage shows behind-the-scenes footage of an intimate scene between their characters, Lily and Ryle, where they are required to dance very close to each other and «be in their own world,» according to the script.
Lively’s team points out a moment where Baldoni leans in and moves his lips from her ear to her neck, saying, “smells so good.” «None of this was remotely in character or based on any dialogue in the script,» they note. In another part of the clip, we see the actor asking for their lips to be very close together, while Blake suggests that they simply talk and offer a bit more «restraint.»
In the scene shown, Baldoni claims that Lively “wouldn’t stop talking and was out of character.” In response to Lively’s legal team, Baldoni’s team argues that “Lively apologized for the smell of her self-tanner and makeup, and Baldoni responded that ‘she smelled good’ (…) [He] continued acting, slow dancing as he believed his character would with his partner, which requires some amount of physical touching,” they say.
Blake Lively Responds to the Leaked Footage from It Ends With Us
In a statement to ET, Lively’s legal team describes the video as “damning” and part of a “continuation of his campaign of harassment and retaliation” against the actress for reporting the alleged abuse she experienced.
The team also highlights the lack of proper intimacy coordination, a key role in productions with intimate scenes. Furthermore, they insist that Baldoni improvised outside the script to be invasive toward Lively.
«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 moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.»
«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,» the statement noted.
The trial date is still to be determined, but this case is undoubtedly one of the most high-profile in Hollywood and will likely bring attention to many issues regarding what happens on the sets of huge films like It Ends With Us.
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