Most of the fingers have been pointing at director and co-lead Justin Baldoni since news of the behind the scenes drama on It Ends With Us first went public, but the story is apparently a whole lot more complicated than just a few actors not getting along with their director. More insiders who worked on the movie are starting to drop off the record quotes, and they’re not all super flattering to star Blake Lively. In fact, some are claiming Baldoni was “well-liked” by many members of the crew, and she was the one who tried to “seize creative control.”
Like most alleged on-set Hollywood feuds, this It Ends With Us mess has been fueled by a lot of rumors, speculation and alleged sources speaking off the record. What it hasn’t had is a ton of people involved actually putting their own name to quotes. So, let’s back up and talk about how we got here.
Following the movie’s premiere, several people on TikTok created videos talking about how weird it was that the cast didn’t take pictures with director Justin Baldoni on the red carpet. They all took pictures with each other and with the book’s author Colleen Hoover, but he seemed to just take pictures with his wife and some friends. Other TikTokers did their own sleuthing and discovered he follows most of the cast on Instagram, but none of the major players seem to follow him. Eventually, the noise got loud enough that major outlets started covering it, and we learned Lively allegedly had Deadpool’s editor cut a separate version of the movie and had her husband Ryan Reynolds re-write a key rooftop scene.
Eventually, all of the whispers got loud enough that he hired a crisis PR agency to help him weather the storm. To be clear, there were some fans, especially on TikTok, who very loudly stood behind him and pointed the finger at Lively, but most of what the mainstream press was reporting had a more negative bent toward him. But that has changed over the last day or so.
TMZ ran a story early this morning which referred to the on-set mess as a “civil war.” The outlet claimed many members of the crew thought Baldoni was really nice, and it would be an oversimplification to say everyone who worked on the movie sides with her. In fact, multiple sources reportedly said she tried to “seize creative control” of It Ends With Us. They insultingly claim she was “eager to be seen as a creator.”
In fairness, Lively was a producer on the movie and has been very open about her involvement creatively. She fought for the music she wanted to have included, and she was the one who told everyone she asked for Reynolds' help with the rooftop scene, which, by the way, works very well in the movie. Baldoni himself has also talked about her involvement and has consistently said she helped make the movie better. He even recommended she direct the sequel, which, whether she directs or not, will almost certainly happen if everyone involved plays ball given the movie’s financial success.
Ultimately, an overwhelming majority of us weren’t on set and don’t know what really happened. I suspect probably only Baldoni and Lively really know what their relationship was like and how much of what is being said is true. There’s a long history in Hollywood of creatives locking horns over their separate visions for a movie, and sometimes that tension can actually produce a better movie. An example of that would be Groundhog Day, where director Harold Ramis wanted more of a comedy, and star Bill Murray wanted more of an emotionally complicated drama.
Thankfully, whatever jostling happened behind the scenes with It Ends With Us worked. It might not be Groundhog Day, but it’s a really solid, mostly faithful adaptation that’s done fairly well with critics and extremely well with audiences. It took in an estimated $50M at the box office its debut weekend, and it’ll make a huge profit for everyone involved. Given that, it’s hard to imagine we won’t eventually get a sequel, though who’ll be in charge when it happens is anyone’s guess at this point.
