When you take on a book-to-screen adaptation, fans of the source material always have expectations, and that can be intimidating. While the film It Ends With Us made a handful of changes from the novel, overall, it’s a faithful adaptation. Now, two of its stars, Blake Lively and Jenny Slate, have opened up to CinemaBlend about details from the book they wanted in their take on it and how they approached playing these beloved fictional characters.
Jenny Slate Reveals The It Ends With Us Scene She Wanted To Make Sure She ‘Delivered’
When I asked Jenny Slate about which book detail she wanted to include, she talked about playing Allysa – Lily’s best friend and Ryle’s sister – and the scene she wanted to make sure they got right. Memorably, her character’s introduction features her bursting into Lily’s flower shop and asking for a job. For Slate, it was important to get the moment right, as she said during my interviews for CinemaBelnd about It Ends With Us:
The moment where Alyssa walks in and meets Lily. To me, it's in that moment – and also like to relieve a little bit of pressure to just, you're like, ‘I don't want to disappoint the fans,’ which is like, a very real thing.
Slate went on to explain that “there’s something between” Lily and Allysa “that starts the second that they meet.” It was important to her to bring the same energy to that scene that’s in the book, which you can see in the clip below:
As someone who has read the novel, I totally agree with Slate that this scene was important, because it sets the tone for Lily and Allysa’s friendship. The actress continued to tell me how getting this scene right helped push the characters' relationship forward, and it set the stage for the vital role Allysa plays in Lily’s deep, and at times dark, story:
But you can feel in the writing in the book that like, there's something between these two people. And I really wanted to make sure that I delivered that, and that the audience would be able to feel that Alyssa is something stable and additive and energizing to a life that Lily is already starting to get off the ground and build, and that she's going to be someone throughout the film that you can feel is going to be like refreshment and support for Lily as she goes through darkness and light.
She did that too. When Ryle turns violent and abuses Lily, Allysa is always there for her, and it’s partially because of the solid ground their friendship is built on. To that point, Blake Lively continued to talk about working to fully flesh out the characters from Colleen Hoover’s book.
Blake Lively Explains How She Went About Playing A Beloved Book Character
When I asked Blake Lively about which details from the book It Ends With Us she wanted to incorporate into the film, she opened up about the “fan favorite” lines as well as making sure she authentically portrayed her character Lily. While breaking down how she played Lily in the project that recently premiered on the 2024 movie schedule, she told me:
The way Colleen writes there’s like fan-favorite lines. So, you know, like, ‘Okay, this is a…’ you're not like, ‘Oh, I hope, I guess,’ you know? Like, there are some greatest hits. But also it was just more about capturing the spirit of these people and capturing the heart of these people, and doing it in the most authentic way.
She’s right, the movie does have some of the “greatest hits,” including when Lily says “It ends with us.” She also makes a good point in noting that she wanted to play out Lily’s story in an “authentic,” “real,” “raw” and “honest” way. She continued:
We're not trying to do a caricature of something we think someone might want. We're really just trying to make these people as living and breathing and real as like your friends and your loved ones as possible.
I think they accomplished that, and they were able to do it while re-creating the majority of the scenes from the book.
Overall, It Ends With Us is a sold adaptation of its source material, and I think it’s because its team took such a thoughtful approach to including important details from the book while also putting their own spin on them.
To see the film for yourself, you can catch It Ends With Us in theaters now.
