Blake Lively's movie It Ends With Us has had a wild life since its release, with a number of controversies surrounding the book to movie adaptation. As it was hitting theaters her behavior with journalists was being examined, but now there's a legal situation surrounding the project. And now Lively's "critical" comment about intimacy coordinators s going viral amidst It Ends With Us brouhaha.
Lively's lawsuit against the It Ends With Us production company included a number of claims about director and actor Justin Baldoni, including about his behavior while filming sex scenes, and doing movements that weren't discussed ahead of time. As a result, her interview with Digital Spy is getting more attention, where she addressed how importance intimacy coordinators are. In her words:
I think it’s critical to have an intimacy coordinator. You coordinate stunts, you coordinate dancing, it is choreography. So it's to be able to say 'this is what happens here, here and here in a stunt', and 'this is what happens here and here in a dance', but like 'now you guys put your bodies together, and your mouths and whatever' and just action and cut. I think that being choreographed is critical for everyone's safety.
There you have it. Sex scenes are a tricky part of being an actor, and intimacy coordinator are still a relatively new concept. But it makes sense to have these sequences specifically choreographed so all parties feel comfortable and safe.
In response to the allegations made against him, Justin Baldoni issued a lawsuit against The New York Times over the way the outlet reported the story. This included a slew of allegations about Blake Lively, including the claim that she actually never saw an intimacy coordinator for It Ends With Us (which is now streaming with a Netflix subscription). So these comments by Lively seemingly stand in juxtaposition to those claims.
The situation revolving around It Ends With Us is certainly a complicated one, and only time will tell how the legal system will ultimately shake out with these two lawsuits. But the public's eyes are on the drama, especially as more allegations and celebrities are brought up.
Both Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds were named in Baldoni's lawsuit, which is offers a very different account of filming and doing press for It Ends With Us. He claimed that Reynolds campaigned to get him dropped from WME, and to keep him away from the movie's premiere. And now corners of the internet believes that Nicepool from Deadpool 3 was poking fun at Baldoni.
Only time will tell how the situation plays out, and if the stars of It Ends With Us end up going to court. For now, the movie is available to stream on Netflix.
