In both the book It Ends With Us and its adaptation on the 2024 movie schedule, Lily Boom and her perspective are at the heart of the story. We are with her as she falls for Ryle, sees Atlas again for the first time, and when Ryle becomes violent and starts abusing Blake Lively’s character. So, when I spoke with Oona Flaherty, one of the movie’s editors, I asked her about working with director and Ryle actor Justin Baldoni to tell Lily’s tale. And that’s what led to her telling the story behind a key scene and the debate they had over how to cut it.
During our interview, Flaherty and I spoke at length about how abuse is portrayed in the film and how they wanted to depict Lily’s story with Ryle. So, I asked the editor to give an example of conversations she had with Baldoni and the post-production team about cutting together these sensitive moments.
In response, she told me a story about editing the final abuse scene and the debate she had with the director about whether they should cut away from Lily’s reaction to show Ryle or not:
One of my favorite moments in the film is when, right before the final abuse, he puts Lily on the counter, and makes her read from the magazine, the review of Atlas’ [restaurant]. And Blake just, I remember, I watch every take when I get dailies, and I watched the take that is in the film, and I screamed, ‘Yes!’ because she just nailed every nuanced moment of that. And so I thought – this is one of the moments Justin and I debated over, we never fought, I wouldn't say, but I was like, ‘We have to stay on Blake for this whole one-er. We have to just stay on her for the whole thing.’
Oona Flaherty was passionate about the scene where Ryle confronts Lily about Atlas’ restaurant’s review that alludes to her past with him. While the way the fight in It Ends With Us is depicted slightly differently from the book, it serves the exact same purpose as the breaking point that causes Lily to leave and find help to get away from her husband. So, both the editor and director knew how important it was to get right.
On that note, Flaherty broke down the conversation she had with Baldoni further, explaining:
And he said, ‘But I want the audience to see the violence in Ryle’s eyes.’ And Justin also gave a stellar performance in this scene. He’s like ‘I want to see the violence in his eyes and the anger. And I want the audience to feel the fear that Lily is feeling.’ And I said, ‘We do. It's stronger when we're watching her face, because we are living in her eyes, essentially.’ And so that's sort of the discussions that we had, of like, ‘What's the best way to tell Lily's story in each scene and in these violent moments?’
Before saying that, the editor told me that Baldoni did a lot of research for the film about “how abusers get away with what they’re doing” as well as the “psychological and emotional” turmoil it causes. Flaherty also candidly explained that she is “not a victim of domestic violence, but [she] was assaulted in New York.” So, she brought her own experience of knowing what it feels like to be “a woman in a situation of violence” into the film.
The Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret editor then broke down the collaboration process that came along with this debate. The film was shown to lots of folks working on it, and it was through constructive feedback and back-and-forth that they landed on the cut we saw in theaters, as she said:
We just found that sticking with her was more impactful. And, you know, we would show it to lots of people. We'd screen it. So, [the other editor] Robb [Sullivan] and I would often take our own cuts, and then we'd share it with each other. We do what Robb called ‘a greatest hits,’ and then show it to Justin, and Justin would give his notes, and then we'd show it to the assistant editors and say, ‘What's landing for you?’ Or we'd show it to one of our producers. It was always [about asking] ‘What is resonating with people and why?’ and then coming, coming back to the edit room and making a choice. So like I said, it was a very collaborative process.
Despite the alleged behind-the-scenes drama, Flaherty spoke highly of collaborating with Baldoni and her co-editor Robb Sullivan, saying she’s “really proud” of the cut they did together. That hard work and collaboration paid off too. Not only did It Ends With Us get pretty good reviews, but it was also a box office hit, showing just how invested fans are in Lily’s story.
Clearly, those behind the film were deeply invested too, as shown by Flaherty’s passion to make sure this pivotal moment in the project stayed on Lively’s Lily instead of jumping back and forth between her and Ryle.
To go back and see the scene Oona Flaherty broke down with CinemaBlend, you can buy or rent It Ends With Us on Amazon.
