In the summer of 2024, It Ends with Us hit theaters, but the film's promotional campaign was a mess. Blake Lively faced backlash for seeming out of touch, while her co-star Justin Baldoni took a more serious approach, highlighting the film’s focus on domestic violence. Months later, Lively filed a lawsuit, claiming she was deeply misrepresented. So, what really happened behind the scenes? Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Infamous show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices A Campside Media & Sony Music Entertainment production. To connect with Infamous's creative team, plus access behind the scenes content, join the community at Campsidemedia.com/join Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened during the film promotion of It Ends With Us?
Back in the summer of 2024, if the movie It Ends With Us was at all on your radar, you probably heard stuff like this.
Chapter 2: Why did Blake Lively face backlash?
Many are accusing Blake Lively of using the film's promotional campaign to promote things other than the movie, like her hairline, or a lot of the interviews give off a fun flowery image, and not using the movie to discuss the far more serious topic of domestic violence.
Blake Lively, who starred in the film, was busy promoting it. But the promotion was weird. And it made her look pretty bad.
Meanwhile, Blake is getting backlash for this now-viral 2016 interview she did when she was pregnant. First of all, congrats on your little bump. Congrats on your little bump. The reporter who was not pregnant said the experience made her want to quit her job.
All over the internet and the press, people were talking about how frivolous and insensitive Blake Lively was being. Because while Blake was saying sort of off-center things like telling women to gather their girlfriends and wear their florals to go see her new rom-com, Justin Baldoni was out talking about a very different aspect of the film.
Chapter 3: How did Justin Baldoni's approach differ from Blake Lively's?
The part that comes after the meet-cute, when the relationship becomes abusive.
Because what is a typical abuser or a typical victim? I think that there is no typical anything. I think that unhealthy relationships are on a spectrum. And this was a really important one. So we partnered with our dear friends at No More. It was the only way that I could direct this movie is if I had a group of women specifically behind me who are specialists in this space.
And from the very beginning, we worked very hard to create a very truthful and honest story that could reflect the reality of what millions and millions of people go through every day.
It Ends With Us, this film, made a killing at the box office. But the promotion left people scratching their heads. We don't usually see co-stars so out of sync. So what really happened on set and in promotion of It Ends With Us? And what does it say about the way the Hollywood machine, the media, and public opinion work today?
Welcome to Infamous, a production of Sony Music Entertainment and Campside Media. I'm Vanessa Gregoriotis. And I'm Natalie Rubinette. This week, we're discussing what's been all the talk in Hollywood this winter, and that is the confrontation between Blake Lively and a man whose name I never knew before, Justin Baldoni.
That's right. It's an epic Hollywood story, but it's even more than that. It's all about information in a post-truth world and how everything is up for manipulation, even virality.
Yeah. In the words of a Hollywood chronicler at Puck, he said that this situation unmasked the rat fucking underworld of Hollywood crisis PR like nothing since the Harvey Weinstein exposes. What do you think about that? That might be a little bit of a stretch.
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Chapter 4: What allegations were made against Justin Baldoni?
Of course, that's a little hyperbolic because the stakes are a little lower here, I would say. And I mean, sexual harassment does factor into this story in a way that we're going to discuss in a second. But, you know, to me, this really just revealed the world of image management and how that functions. Right.
And the reason we're talking about this is the movie It Ends With Us, which Blake Lively starred in. Justin Baldoni also starred in and directed. Vanessa, you watched it. Tell me about this film.
So Blake Lively, of Gossip Girl fame and other fame, and married to Ryan Reynolds, who is this huge Marvel actor who we're going to definitely be talking about in this episode, stars with Justin Baldoni, man, never heard before, very good-looking man, actor, director. The movie that they're in is called It Ends With Us, and it's a Colleen Hoover book that was very, very popular about, I mean...
It's about a bunch of different things, but basically the idea is that it's an abusive relationship that Blake finds herself in with Justin and And Blake has in her past some traumatic memories of growing up with abuse in her household. So it's really a movie about domestic violence. It's in this weird zone where it feels a little like a romantic comedy.
Chapter 5: What does Blake Lively's lawsuit claim?
Like Justin, who's the main heartthrob, he is a neurologist. What do you do for a living?
Neurosurgeon.
Is that funny? I thought you were a crypto bro.
You thought it was a crypto bro.
Chapter 6: How did social media influence public perception?
And then the alternative heartthrob who she's drawn to is a very good looking chef who owns his own restaurant called Root. My regards to the chef.
Thank you. Appreciate it. It's actually my mother's recipe. It's my first restaurant.
And I won't do too many spoilers, but basically that becomes a key part of the film is Blake has a tattoo on her of something that's related to a root. And you realize it's because she's been in a relationship with this guy, this chef, before. And she might actually even be in love with him.
I love you.
Atlas. You look amazing.
Yes, you are.
God, thank you. I mean, my mom didn't recognize you.
It's bye for the best.
Very dramatic.
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Chapter 7: What role did publicists play in this controversy?
And then there was this whole other scandal, which was why are Blake and Justin not promoting a film together?
And so you just read about this in the tabloids or something?
Chapter 8: What is the significance of the box office success?
Yeah. I mean, look, I think the notion of a press tour has come more and more into the public consciousness because we've just been inundated with the Barbie press tour and seeing these different looks. People are way more familiar with the parlance of Hollywood publicity. So people started to be like, why are these two co-stars not appearing together to promote this film together?
And there started to be some questions about that.
And people also saw that Blake and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, had unfollowed Justin on social media, which is kind of a key symbol of distaste of somebody. I find that person quite odious. I will unfollow them. Go on. It takes a lot to unfollow. Not a mute, but an unfollow.
I just can't believe that we're paying attention to Who Follows Who. It feels so incredibly petty. But anyway, look, this movie, it came out, it went on to gross $351 million worldwide on a budget of, let me say, $25 million. So this movie was a huge hit. despite all this kind of like, oh, did Blake Lively promote it weirdly? She kind of seems to be a little strange, but whatever.
And, you know, most of the time when a movie makes money, everyone leaves happy. You kind of never think of it again until the sequel, but not this time.
And indeed, there was supposed to be a sequel. And I do not think that's going to happen. But we'll talk about that later. So basically, here are the players. You have Blake Lively, who is the female star. You have the distributor of the film. And Justin Baldoni, who is, as I said, the star, the director.
And Wayfarer, which is a production company that he co-founded with some very rich guy's money. And he has the rights to not only... the first Colleen Hoover book, but the second, the sequel as well. So he's really, he's not just a star here. He is really the guy who put this together. I mean, in Hollywood, nothing gets made until you have a big actor attached.
In this case, Blake Lively is the big actor. She's the golden ring, but he's the one who worked in the trenches getting this film together. I think that's fair to say.
Sure. The reason we know these names and care about it is because on December 21st, the New York Times published a blockbuster piece all about It Ends With Us that was tied to a complaint that had been filed by Blake Lively, alleging a whole slew of sexual harassment that she says she experienced on set, as well as a smear campaign that she says she was a victim of.
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