The It Ends With Us drama really is never ending. By this point, I’m sure you’re well aware of the alleged turmoil between the It Ends With Us cast. There’s been plenty rumors that Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who star as Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid, respectively, did not see eye to eye on the project. Why is this easily believable? Well, Baldoni was virtually absent from any and all press with the rest of the cast ahead of the movie’s Aug. 9 release and no one from the cast follows him on Instagram.
Instead of Lively and Baldoni joining forces to promote the film, the former Gossip Girl actress took part in interviews alongside the book’s author, Colleen Hoover, and the rest of the cast, including Brandon Sklenar, who plays Atlas Corrigan in the movie. Hoover admittedly sought Baldoni to direct the film and asked if he’d consider starring as Ryle, Lily’s abusive partner. After falling subject to virality for all the wrong reasons, Sklenar is spoke out about the criticism his castmates — mostly Lively — have faced over It Ends With Us on Aug. 20, and I have one big question after reading his statement. But before I get into that, let’s breakdown all the drama that’s transpired up to now.
In the wake of much upset, fans critiqued the It Ends With Us press rollout for marketing the film about domestic violence as a rom-com. In one instance, Lively encouraged fans to “grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to see it,” was rather misleading to the real subject matter of Lily’s story. After much backlash, the marketing shifted to highlight what the novel and film is actually about — domestic violence.
All the while, Baldoni has been praised as he sought to bring awareness to the difficult topic well before any controversy started. It’s been highly speculated that Baldoni’s absence in the press rollout may have had something to do with creative differences between himself and Lively. Baldoni directed of the film, but Lively was a producer. With both powerhouses in power positions, Baldoni admitted he let the women working on the film take charge on the project due to its deep meaning.
After the film’s opening weekend, Lively seemingly responded to online criticism by posting a link to the National Domestic Violence Hotline to her Instagram Stories on Aug. 13. To some, it felt like Lively’s post came a little too late. Instead of doing damage control after the fact, fans argued that the team behind the project should have included a trigger warning at the start of the film and additional resources at its end. I personally agree with criticism that It Ends With Us should not have been marketed as a fluffy rom-com, though it’s clearly too little too late.
Since the movie came out, Lively has been subject to vast judgment. From using the movie to promote her hair care line to fans digging up past unflattering interviews with the star, people haven’t been too happy with Lively lately. But Sklenar jumped to Lively’s defense in his statement posted to Instagram to self-admittedly “address all this stuff swirling online.” Sklenar criticized those who were “vilifying the women who put so much of their heart and soul into making this film,” adding that it’s been “disheartening to see the amount of negativity being projected online.”
He directly referenced the alleged drama between the cast and Baldoni, stating that “what may or may not have happened behind the scenes does not and hopefully should not detract from what our intentions were in making this film.”
He added, “This film is meant to inspire. It’s meant to validate and recognize. It’s meant to instill hope. It’s meant to build courage and help people feel less alone. Ultimately it’s meant to spread love and awareness. It is not meant to once again, make the women the ‘bad guy,’ let’s move beyond that together.”
After reading through Sklenar’s statement in its entirety, I agree that there shouldn’t be so much online hate circulating the film. However, I have one question for our on-screen Atlas: Why didn’t he tag Baldoni in the statement? Sklenar notably tagged the official It Ends With Us Instagram page, Lively, Hoover, Isabela Ferrer (who portrays young Lily), and Jenny Slate (who plays Ryle’s sister, Allysa).
He likely was only tagging the film’s leading women, but everyone knows the alleged discourse between Baldoni and the cast is at the forefront of “all this stuff swirling online,” which Sklenar chose to address with his statement. If he wanted to prioritize spotlighting the film’s topic, I think it may have been a smart idea to at least tag Baldoni on the post to show some sort of unity between the director and cast.
I mean, seriously, Baldoni is the director and a key star of It Ends With Us, and in the digital age, so of course people are going to put a magnifying glass to any and everything to could prove there’s blad blood behind the scenes.
Honestly, Sklenar’s PR team should have taken a closer look at his statement before he posted it without a nod to Baldoni in any sense. I have a feeling this is going to cause even more chaos surrounding their alleged drama instead of quieting the noise.