Ever since its release in 2024, the book to movie adaptation It Ends With Us has been making headlines due to accusations lobbed by Blake Lively, actor/director Justin Baldoni, and their respective legal teams. The film (which is streaming with a Netflix subscription) continues to be controversial thanks to lawsuits submitted by Lively as well as Baldoni's teams. The latter actor recently sued Lively and Ryan Reynolds, offering some more complaints about what he feels went down on the movie. While Lively turned heads with her It Ends With Us wardrobe, it's now come up in the new lawsuit.
Baldoni's original lawsuit was against The New York Times, but his newest one is agains Reynolds and Lively, suing them for $400,000 and alleging civil extortion, defamation and more. In the new complaint, the film's director took aim at Lively's wardrobe for the film, listing that she got the production money and time as a result of taking over her character Lily's clothes. It reads:
Almost immediately, Lively began inserting herself into the production process in intrusive ways well beyond the scope of her contractual entitlements. For example, Lively began to insist on creative control over her character’s wardrobe. While lead actors are sometimes granted approval over their characters’ general look, they generally do not receive full control over wardrobe decisions without input from the director or producers. What may seem like an innocuous request can in fact have monumental impact on a film production.
While Lively's clothes turned heads doing press for It Ends With Us, some complaints at the time alleged surrounded her wardrobe. This new wrinkles says she was reportedly just as involved in what her character Lily Bloom wore throughout the drama film. According to Baldoni's suit, her getting more control over costuming ended up having a negative affect on the movie's production.
Clothes seem to be endlessly connected to It Ends With Us as a project. Because while promoting the film, Blake Lively caught flak for encouraging audiences to wear florals to the theater. Although Lively own suit claimed that the way the film was marketed was out of her control. Later in Baldoni's complaints, his legal team outlines the way her input on costumes impacted production. It reads:
Ignoring the director’s vision for her character and disposing of the weeks of effort and creativity spent by the wardrobe team on shopping and carefully crafting her wardrobe, Lively sent hundreds of images to the Film’s costume designer, including into the late hours of the evening, depicting the style of wardrobe she wanted for her character. The costume designer had to re-shop Lively’s wardrobe, far exceeding the allocated budget and diverting time and resources, while also preparing wardrobes for the rest of the cast. At one point, Lively insisted that her character 'had money' and could afford $5,000 shoes—despite being a fledgling small business owner. This forced Baldoni to rethink the entire script that had been in the works for well over a year and was approved by both Sony and Wayfarer – a script that Wayfarer had commissioned multiple drafts of and incorporated countless notes (including input from the book’s author, Colleen Hoover). The wardrobe budget ballooned.
Movie budgets can be a delicate matter, and this allegation alleges Lively's passion for her character's wardrobe affected it in a negative way. The lawsuit also claimed that the 37 year-old actress refused to travel or costume fittings, instead requesting they be brought across town in Manhattan to her home. That, as well as the pieces she chose, are reportedly why the costuming went over budget.
In the above excerpt, the movie's script is referenced. Having seen It Ends With Us, I have to wonder what changes might have been made in order to facilitate Lily's clothes. In the movie she does in fact "have money", as her family is very privileged... even if she's living on her own.
Clearly the situation surrounding It Ends With Us isn't going to end anytime soon, with Baldoni's second lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds further raising the stakes. We'll just have to see how it all shakes out, and if they actually face off in court.
It Ends With Us is on Netflix now. Be sure to check out the 2025 movie release dates to plan your trips to the movies this year.
