As someone who has always admired the artistry and resilience of actors, I find myself deeply troubled by the recent allegations made against Justin Baldoni by Blake Lively. The experiences that these artists go through during film production can be intense, and it’s disheartening to see such accusations surface.

Actress Blake Lively has made allegations against her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star Justin Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment. In a shocking court filing, Lively claims that Baldoni tried to damage her reputation and asserts that his actions caused her and her family significant emotional distress (as stated in a legal complaint obtained by the New York Times). Legal representative Bryan Freedman, speaking on behalf of Baldoni and production company Wayfarer Studios, has strongly disputed Lively’s claims in a statement to EbMaster. He described the lawsuit as disgraceful, filled with baseless accusations.

The California Civil Rights department received a complaint regarding the filming of “It Ends With Us”. This complaint was aimed at resolving concerns raised by Blake Lively, and her requests to be involved in the project. It’s said that her husband, Ryan Reynolds, was present at this meeting. Among the issues addressed were requests such as banning explicit videos or images of women shown to Blake, avoiding discussions about the alleged past pornography addiction of a crew member, prohibiting conversations about sexual encounters in front of Blake and others, preventing any further references to cast and crew’s genitalia, halting questions about Blake’s weight, and no more mentions of Blake’s deceased father.

Reportedly, Blake Lively supposedly asked director Baldoni not to insert additional explicit scenes such as sex scenes, oral sex, or on-camera climaxes beyond what was previously approved in the script prior to filming. Sony Pictures allegedly complied with Lively’s demands, but later the complaint claims that Baldoni engaged in “manipulation of public opinion” and initiated a smear campaign to tarnish Lively’s reputation following these events.

EbMaster has reached out to representatives for Sony Pictures and Lively for comment.

Freedman’s statement to EbMaster says that it’s unfortunate that Ms. Lively and her team have made such serious, factually incorrect allegations against Mr. Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and their representatives. This appears to be another last-ditch effort to improve her damaged reputation, which stems from her own words and actions during the film campaign. These comments and activities were seen live, without editing, allowing the public to form their own opinions online.

Freedman states that these allegations are entirely baseless, extravagant, and intentionally damaging, aimed at causing harm and perpetuating a story in the media. Wayfarer Studios chose to take precautions by hiring a crisis manager ahead of their film’s marketing campaign. This was because of the numerous demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production, including her warning that she would not appear on set or promote the movie if her requirements were not met. These actions could have led to the film’s downfall during its release. Additionally, it was found that Ms. Lively had enlisted her own representative, Leslie Sloan from Vision PR, who also represents Mr. Reynolds, to spread negative and entirely fabricated stories to the media even before any marketing for the film began. This was another reason why Wayfarer Studios decided to engage a crisis professional to begin internal contingency planning in case they needed to respond.

“Wayfarer Studios’ representatives didn’t take any active steps nor retaliated, but only responded to media inquiries for accurate reporting and kept an eye on social media activity. However, what’s conspicuously absent from the selectively shared communications is proof that no proactive actions were taken with the media or otherwise; instead, they were involved in internal planning and private discussions, which is typical for PR professionals.

There were numerous whispers of an ongoing dispute between Lively and Baldoni during the promotional tour for “It Ends With Us” last August, as they never collaborated on any promotional activities for the film. Despite this, the movie was a massive success at the box office for Sony, grossing an impressive $350 million globally. Notably, “It Ends With Us” is adapted from a bestselling novel by Colleen Hoover, who later wrote a sequel titled “It Starts With Us.” After the film’s release, a source shared with EbMaster that it’s highly improbable for a movie adaptation of the sequel to occur due to the unlikely possibility of Lively and Baldoni working together again.

Read More

2024-12-21 19:19