Justin Baldoni’s newly-hired crisis management team is crisis-managing like crazy. It feels like Baldoni is firing on all cylinders in his war (?) with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. If I’m giving Justin the benefit of the doubt, I would say that he was probably legitimately concerned that Blake and Ryan were going to do a number on him. Baldoni stayed ready so he didn’t have to get ready, you know? Speaking of, while Blake is telling people to wear florals and bring their girlfriends to It Ends With Us, Baldoni’s production company has partnered with an anti-domestic violence charity to provide resources:
Justin Baldoni‘s production company Wayfarer Studios is partnering with the No More Foundation to provide resources and information related to the abuse depicted in Baldoni’s latest film, “It Ends With Us.”
Through an end card running in the film’s credits, and a dedicated page on their website, No More aims to offer survivors of domestic and sexual violence (and their loved ones) easy access to help. Most notably, the No More Global Directory connects people to support services in the U.S. and 200 countries and territories around the world.
“Wayfarer Studios has an ambitious mission: We aspire to create projects that are both commercial and truly make a difference in the lives of our viewers,” said Wayfarer co-founder and “It Ends With Us” star Baldoni, who also directed the film. “We’ve partnered with No More because we want to ensure that Wayfarer Studios projects, specifically those that address domestic and sexual violence and abuse, are made with purpose and the intention to educate, support and ultimately provide resources for viewers who may see themselves via their current situation on screen.”
As I said, the crisis management is doing its thing. As many have pointed out, it genuinely seems like Baldoni and Lively fell out in post-production. That might have had something to do with Lively bringing in her own editor to create a “IEWU: Lively Cut.” But I sort of wonder if Baldoni and Lively also had a significant falling out over the promotion. As in, Baldoni and his team created a plan of how to discuss the topic of DV, what to say when asked about the subject matter, how the production company would partner with No More to provide education and resources… and Blake was like “nope” to all of that. Blake was like, actually, I’m going to launch my haircare label and treat this like it’s a light rom-com and fashion show!
The internet isn’t happy with how Blake Lively has been conducting herself in “It Ends With Us” PR, comparing her interviews to Justin Baldoni’s.
After seeing interviews side-by-side, what do you think? pic.twitter.com/CsCoQ3MI1b
— Evie Magazine (@Evie_Magazine) August 13, 2024
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
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- New York, NY – Actor Justin Baldoni makes time for his fans as he signs autographs and poses for pictures as he arrives at CBS Mornings to promote “It Ends With Us’ Pictured: Justin Baldoni BACKGRID USA 7 AUGUST 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New Jersey, NJ – **FILE PHOTOS** Did the kiss last too long? Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni share an on-screen smooch on the set of “It Ends With Us” on January 13, 2024. The “drama” between the two has been reaching a boil since the film’s release with fans speculating about how the stars of the hit film really feel about each other. Recent reports claim Blake felt ‘fat-shamed” by Justin while filming. *Shot on January 14, 2024** Pictured: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni BACKGRID USA 14 AUGUST 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: T.JACKSON / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New Jersey, NJ – **FILE PHOTOS** Did the kiss last too long? Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni share an on-screen smooch on the set of “It Ends With Us” on January 13, 2024. The “drama” between the two has been reaching a boil since the film’s release with fans speculating about how the stars of the hit film really feel about each other. Recent reports claim Blake felt ‘fat-shamed” by Justin while filming. *Shot on January 14, 2024** Pictured: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni BACKGRID USA 14 AUGUST 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: T.JACKSON / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- World Premiere Of ‘It Ends With Us’ at AMC Lincoln Square Theatre Featuring: Justin Baldoni Where: New York, United States When: 06 Aug 2024 Credit: Darla Khazei/INSTARimages
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- World Premiere Of ‘It Ends With Us’ at AMC Lincoln Square Theatre Featuring: Justin Baldoni Where: New York, United States When: 06 Aug 2024 Credit: Roger Wong/INSTARimages
Meanwhile, there’s Lainey’s very interesting and valid take about the Amber Heard of it all.
yep. I liked her nuanced take on things. this whole thing smells.
Lainey’s brings up a lot of good points. Like – why hire THAT crisis management company? They are associated with Brad Pitt and Havey Weinstein in addition to Johnny Depp. This isn’t a group that is pro-women/protect them from DV. This is a group that protects men.
Do we know for sure other companies wanted to take him on against Ryan Reynolds?
I saw that in the links section of CB from yesterday.
I completely understand why BL is an awful person. However, she’s the lightning rod here, and she’s not the only one who has a problem with JB. This guy has lots of red flags, but they’re hiding behind her red flags. I just don’t trust him.
The way he speaks is also starting to remind me of Jonah Hill.
It sure feels like something else HAS to drop, right? Maybe they’re waiting until the movie is out of the theaters to talk about specifics? Or maybe it really is a nothing burger and this guy is just trying to protect his career after a professional falling out. It’s just such a big hubbub for really no accusations of anything. It’s so odd.
With respect to Lainey, she can be very biased at times. More often than not she’s bang on, until it involves someone/thing that she has a love of or personal connection to. Ryan is one of those people she may have a personal bias towards. I’m not saying she’s wrong, just to take it with a grain of salt.
I think she IS soft on Ryan and Blake by association. Her take had nuance, yes. But her take was also extremely soft and forgiving of Blake while pointing fingers at Baldoni and his new PR firm. In my unbiased opinion, I hold Blake accountable for the piss poor way she promoted the film. Period, end of story. That is how I feel separate from whatever happened BTS.
Ryan gave her a shout out during his promotion of the new deadpool film so she’s not going to burn that bridge. He was also involved with Covenant House in BC where she volunteered and worked before the etalk gig happened. I read her thoughts as being very careful about the whole thing. She knows he reads her site.
Nah, she’s shaded them before, too.
I really think people are making to much of the crisis management team, like how many are there?
And sorry so far nothing that has come out has been that damaging to Blake, other than her behavior which is on her.
I almost never side with men…but it’s really hard here. I thought this whole situation was gonna get dark…not dumb. I keep waiting for something bigger to drop?
The fact that all of the women have been avoiding the director – unfollowing, not saying his name for SEO reasons etc – seems to indicate that he did something.
Whether he believes he did something or not- that remains to be seen. Whether the court of public opinion will believe he did something or not also remains to be seen. We really need clarity on what has happened instead of vague whispers. I’m assuming that they don’t want to tank the movie and are keeping quiet for that reason for the time being.
He has his own production company and Sony executives on his side. He’s hardly powerless.
Blake is a woman in Hollywood and we all know how fast people turn on women.
That just released interview is 8 years old. She has never been my cup of tea, but I am willing and able to believe that she has had personal growth in the past 8 years and is no longer that person. If she addresses it.
Honestly, the past 8 years has been an education at light speed for the white women ready and willing to do the work. And I do very much hope that she was and is putting in the time and effort to educate herself on true feminism and the variety of issues facing marginalized people daily as well as the power structures that hold men in power.
Lastly. Two things can be true at the same time. BL got the promotional tone of the movie wrong. I think she’s trying to lean into the idea of women saving women and that abused women are allowed to be many things – feminine and joyful – and don’t need to constantly prove they are victims. She needs to sharpen her messaging. Asap.
As for the Baldoni’s messaging – he’s positioned himself as an ally to women and deconstructor of toxic masculinity.
In my personal experience, nothing spirals a “man ally” more than being checked or corrected on his ideas or his “take” on a situation. Also in my personal experience, many men with power who are positioning themselves in this way have done so to defuse or deflect any criticism or allegations that come their way. Be it a UU minister who is physically abusive or – in the immediate aftermath of this – the tons of comments on how Baldoni is an ally so he would never or it seems out of “character” when the truth is, we only know the image he has cultivated.
I’m with the women in that I believe something happened which upset them or hurt them. They have a right to their feelings about their experience.
And it’s long last due to stop the crisis management – that started yesterday but is already coming hard for BL – and to just be open and honest about what happened during the making of this movie and how it’s impacted the working relationships of the people involved.
I hear you, I have witnessed and been at the receiving end of the male behaviour you describe.
However.
The one turning the movie premiere into a spectacle is Blake. The one using a movie about DV to shill her hair are line is Blake. The ones trying to turn this movie + Deadpool into a Barbieheimet are Blake and her husband. The ones with a history of casual racism are Blake and her husband (plantation wedding, weird antebellum blog). The one giving an aggressive answer that trivializes DV to a reporter (the one who was trying to prompt a conversation about people relying on the movie to express their trauma and how to deal with it, simple easy answer: promoting RAINN and other similar actors) was Blake. The one asking people to “wear florals” at the movie premiere was Blake. I’ve seen a photo of Blake with a flower shop decor at one of the premieres, once again presenting the movie as a cute rom com.
The ones with incredible power are Blake and her husband. They aren’t only powerful in their own, they have powerful friends in the business.
I don’t like Justin’s choice of a PR firm and yet it might just be the best in the business and also one willing to take on his case for good publicity, to be associated with a “good man” after the while Depo shenanigan. Or maybe it’s the only firm powerful and ruthless enough to dare to go against Blake and her husband.
I’ll have to wait and see.
Blake Lively is a Mean Girl, and also the most powerful person in the room. It’s entirely possible the rest of the cast have either been manipulated to side with Blake or that they don’t want to cross her because they are afraid for their careers. Justin is the one who seems to have understood the assignment with this movie.
“Baldoni and his team created a plan of how to discuss the topic of DV, what to say when asked about the subject matter, how the production company would partner with No More to provide education and resources… and Blake was like ‘nope’ to all of that.”
DAMN Kaiser–solid theory here. And if this turns out to be true, that’s just so damn sad. Blake has always struck me as superficial so it feels accurate.
I’ve always said that Lively wasn’t a “say it with your whole chest” racist but just a very vapid white woman who wants what she wants and doesn’t think beyond that. She’s not one to delve deep into anything really. So her actions were racist for sure but they were born more out of shallowness than racist beliefs. But it’s still a real indicator of insularity and privilege to book a f*cking plantation for a wedding smdh.
Still Team JB so far…waiting to hear more about his terrible actions.
To be honest, I have never seen him in anything and from photos alone he gives me the creeps. Usually I never side with men either.
Yet, I cannot muster any goodwill towards Blake here. Was this necessary in the first place? What’s going on????
I’d completely understand if she was abused. But say it straightaway, she’s married to Ryan-f*cking-Reynolds FFS, it’s not like many would believe the guy here.
Instead she has come across as someone who went to war for creative differences and started throwing mud at the less-powerful director waiting to see if something stuck. A character assassination after another. You’d think he’s Weinstein from all the articles published from their camp.
Even if this guy is an absolute monster, this is the wrong way to go about it if you want to bring the issues to the forefront, 70% of comments are on his side even after hiring that shady PR firm.
Blake’s been problematic for YEARS but got whitewashed because of her husband (who also isn’t as saintly as people would like to believe). She’s part of the Taylor Swift mean girls club, that says/does terrible things and refuses to apologize for it but instead will let her minions do her dirty work.
Team JB all the way.
There is nothing to indicate Taylor is a mean girl in fact from everything we’ve heard it’s the opposite. Also this need to drag her into it is pathological.
Agree 💯 if he’s done something so awful, just come out and say it. The implications are damaging if not.
This has already been noted by anyone following the promotion of IEWU. I really don’t think it was necessary for him to hire a crisis PR team. Unless he really felt that RR and BL were just going to come out with more vague stuff to try and smear him which wasn’t working anyway.
Lady Rae, it definitely was necessary. He was getting smeared on SM and the people magazine article was terrible.
Glad he did not wait for the BL/RR machine to run him over.
I have not seen a SINGLE social media post against Justin. I have seen many, many, MANY against Blake. the most I’ve seen for Blake’s side is that no one seemed to want to promote the movie with him or say his name, particularly the women involved, and that there was a quiet unfollowing on Instagram.
I have heard tons of praise for him being an ally to women, though.
Right? All that happened was some quiet unfollowing on social media, and not just by Blake. No direct comments, no planted stories. The rest has all been whipped up by speculation. It’s bizarre.
Well, the separate premiers and the refusal of the female cast to speak his name too.
Baldoni has worked for decades and built his production company from the ground up and he saw the writing on the wall the minute two A listers had the knives out for him. He went into defense mode and no one can fault him for that. He is basically defending himself from one of the most powerful men in Hollywood (right now)
I think we’re really overestimating how “powerful” Ryan Reynolds is. I also don’t see how unfollowing him on Instagram and not saying anything about him, positive or negative, is them having their “knives out”.
also completely ignores the other women not wanting to engage with him either. but I guess I’m supposed to believe they have no agency themselves and are just scared of Blake and Ryan too. 🙄
and choosing to protect himself with the same people that helped protect Pitt Depp and Weinstein is an interesting choice from someone who’s supposed to be an ally to women.
@Arizona
Lets cut the crap. Ryan has multiple billion dollar franchise under his belt, Marvel and Disney in his speed dial, years worth of connections….what does Baldoni have? You know how easy it is to ruin a guy like Baldoni because Hollywood will side with the guy that makes them billions. Tony Vinciquerra of Sony just praised Lively for advancing the cause of fight against DV. Like you all are hung up on the stupid PR firks client list while completely ignoring the fact that Baldoni was being fed to the wolves by Blake and Ryan when her tone deaf promotional strategy was blowing up on her face. He only hired them when they started feeding People, Page 6 the bit about fat shaming and uncomfortable by kiss. The fact remains, Justin isn’t powerful, he has worked in two films as director, produced a bunch of others, acted and has never been accused of inappropriate conduct, rude behavior. You all just don’t want to accept that Blake has always been a freaking Antebellum era loving Karen.
It was absolutely necessary. Maybe not *that* firm but one was needed.
They’ve tried to shut him out and then blacklist him from day 1 of the promotion.
@Arizona, he *IS* that powerful – word from crew members and other involved with his football team is that he can move *mountains* now. He hides it behind a veneer of “I’m so down to earth, your average just-around-the-corner prankster” but his word actually counts now.
He’s also friend with a LOT of powerful people. Baldoni never stood a chance.
If we just put the accusations and rumours aside, how does Blake end up promoting this movie as a rom-com?
This. Independent of whatever artistic differences apparently went down here… she’s out here looking like a burning dumpster full of florals and telling people to buy her sh*t when the topic is DV. It’s not a great. She is a vapid individual. Hollywood is full of them. I think this is sort of a non story at this point.
IMHO she wanted to the focus of the movie to be the star-crossed romance of Lilly and Atlas. And the DV storyline to be in the background. She wanted a modern day, Twilight. And Justin wanted an authentic look at the dynamics of a DV relationship. Their vision and tone of the movie did not align. Which is why the infighting started in the editing bay. Who got final edit and how the tone of the movie came across to the audience. She wanted light and flowers and Barbie II feeling. Of getting the girls together for a night out. Wrong tone, totally the wrong tone for this movie.
Please please please make an effort to point out that this partnership did not just come about because of what is happening right now and is some of PR trick. You can go back years of interviews with Justin and his producer partner and Wayfarer president to know that this is something they’ve always done with their projects. They have always partnered to highlight causes and provide assistance related to issues they’ve addressed in their films.
Kaiser did that with her theory that a difference between how the movie would be promoted is potentially the catalyst for this riff. That would have happened post-production, pre- PR tour and obviously before all of this messiness came out.
His lack of fame and notoriety is being used against him by some people. Because they’ve never heard of him they doubt his credentials and talent. Someone even thought this was his first directorial effort when Google is free and so is IMDB.
@CEE- exactly this! Everyone is being so quick to say that is the crisis firm he hired that is firing all these shots now, but I honestly don’t think so. Ryan and blake are super powerful right now off the release of his last deadpool film. He also owns a sports team and a mobile company. Justin needed a team strong enough to fight back if needed but also, people have had different experiences with both ryan and blake over the years, now that they see the tide turning a bit against them, they feel is their chance to come out and talk about those experiences without being discarded as a one off.
DV is a serious issue and his support of it is important. But now this feud is overtaking the conversation. I’m very disappointed in both Blake and Justin.
I am not disappointed in Justin he is David fighting Goliath. Trying to keep his vision of the movie and the importance around how deceptive and easy it is to succumb to DV for partners of both genders. Do I think his crisis team could have more morals when it comes to mudslinging, yes. But he is trying to save his career here. Where one wrong move and you are blacklisted forever.
Sometimes you need to hire a bully to fight off 2 bigger bullies.
@Flamingo Agree 100%
@CEE Exactly – Fight fire with fire! It’s the only language that bullies understand.
Correct
To be fair, Blake also partnered with a company to tie into the movie. Target and her new hair care line. So… There is that…. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I appreciate what Justin is doing. And I hope his career thrives after this. But Blake and Ryan are a machine now. I wish everyone would just move on. It’s clear to me, if, and when there is a sequel, his role will either be recast or minimized to a cameo at best. And you know Blake will have full control with her and Ryan’s production company. I am sure as we are speaking her lawyers are writing the contact language that will have final edit approval to Blake only.
Who owns the rights for the second book?
That’s an excellent question. I don’t know the answer to. Or if a 2nd movie has been greenlit yet. Or the book rights sold. Everything with Justin was he bought the rights to the first book only. Maybe he gets first option for the 2nd but who knows. And who knows if he would even want to after this. But there is a 2nd book. It Starts with Us.
I am hearing that some crisis management folks politely said no to trying to go up against Ryan Reynolds. Maybe that’s part of how he ended up with that firm.
That would make sense because it’s been my biggest ?????? about him.
It’s the classic case of a lot of things potentially being true all at once. Yes they fell out over a number of things and didn’t have good experience working together, yes BL & RR have huge power and influence, yes all/most unfollowed him on SM (someone here commented that not everyone unfollowed him, a couple of the more well established people of those involved are still there, those with less power and influence fell into line), yes he saw the writing on the wall and realised he needed to push back, and yes, a lot of people are using this as an opportunity to pile on the BL and make her into a mega villain when that’s not actually the case.
IDK… people’s issues with him using the same crisis management team as Depp isn’t entirely fair IMO. I don’t really remember people yelling at Affleck and DiCaprio for using Depp’s lawyer Camille Vasquez–and she did a real number on Heard.
Sometimes people choose their representation based on who’s the most effective, period. Who their prior clients were may not even be a factor in their decision-making process.
I’ll be mad at Baldoni once I know what to be mad about.
There are situations with no one to root for and it’s my take on the whole mess. It also reflects poorly on everyone that they weren’t able to keep a lid on the feud during the promo tour.
Agree. 1000%
It’s suspect that Blake and Ryan have had a number of influencer accounts demonetised on Instagram that have even remotely said anything taking Justin’s side over Blake
Tasha Lustig’s account was demonetised over it yesterday and she said that a few others she knew had the same happen to them
how exactly are they supposed to have done that? they just called up Zuckerberg? lol.
It really is starting to look like they’re the mean (slightly racist, incredibly white) popular kids of this whole situation… they have been mean girling JB since day one. Now they’re going after influencers who have pennies in comparison to their millions?? What?? This whole thing is just so weird.
Demonetize, how does that happen? I’m clueless.
I don’t know about IG, but you tube can demonetize accounts usually after complaints are made. There is likely a similar process for IG.
I can’t keep up with the culture. I started following CB in an attempt to not be completely clueless in daily conversations at work. So, I don”t have specific examples, but seem to recall Jenny Slate is problematic AF. Not sure why her “siding” with Blake and unfollowing Justin is an indication of anything that reflects poorly on Justin. Honestly, I think we will eventually find out that everyone involved in this was a jerk.
I work in PR, and it really has reached a point where crisis management was necessary, although I think his restraint up to this point has served JB very well — he has contributed NOTHING to the feud narrative; that is entirely one-sided. Crisis management isn’t necessarily adversarial, and to this point JB has not said anything publicly that is anti BL. Properly done, it can be about protecting and rehabilitating his image without attacking hers, and that seems to be the direction they are going. For most people, this scuffle is their first intro to him; of course he’s not going to want to waste that opportunity by passively allowing himself to be thrown under the bus.
Also, if she had a problem with him, social media shunning and photo op avoidance are very mean girl responses, which leads me to suspect his real offense was telling her “no” when she expected a “yes.” Making a public spectacle of ostracizing someone without a good reason is something immature people do. If she’s the girl boss she likes to present herself as, articulating the problem is the first step. Instead, it’s likely she knows that the real reason she’s angry won’t play well with the public, so she’s choosing this vague method of punishment.
He’s walked this walk since his Jane the Virgin days, so to me it seems perfectly plausible that he did something she didn’t like without intending to cause offense, but still chose to do it his way, which doesn’t make him a bad guy. Until she confirms what the offense is, he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Thank you for your much-needed professional insight here.
And I had the same thought: just because he’s hiring a crisis management team does not mean that his team will take the same approach as they did with Depp/Amber. I don’t think crisis management is a one-size-fits-all thing and I’m sure there’s been consultation about what the best approach is to protect his image and reputation from what does initially appear as a smear campaign.
This is a great comment. And I think it explains the gut reaction a lot of folks seem to be having that BL is in the wrong here.
I think that Blake is constructing a narrative of ‘it not just me who hates him, but everyone on set hates him too” which is probably something she learnt from her friend Taylor swift.
That’s the sort of thing that people do in smear campaigns, they form cliques to make and get as many of people on their side. Willie and Kate did the same thing with harry and Meghan.
I noticed that Justin is promoting this film as a serious piece about domestic violence and as director he probably wants this film to be seen as credible as possible.
Blake’s side is promoting it as a fluffy rom com. I’m guessing that has Ryan Reynolds controlling ways taking over. He would hate for his wife to actually do anything credible and outshine him.
It is obvious that Miss America Plantation was prepping for the sequel to this movie before the numbers came out and when she found out that after all the work of working over Hooper ( from what I read, isn’t that difficult to do), she could not do it with Justin, who owns the right to the sequel. Justin’s production team is still a business and is looking at the larger picture and that is why she is pissed. As for the women not following him anymore, they way Plantation and Deadpool have strong hold this promotion, y’all don’t think they did it with the women of the cast and Hooper?
Come on now.
I don’t know anything about Justin so I can’t comment on him. I don’t like Blake at all, she’s so beg. I remember when she used to be one of Harvey Weinsteins girls, and latched on to Leo and supposedly had an affair with Ben affleck and now husband Ryan Reynolds when they were both married. No she’s Taylor swifts hanger on.
She seems to have gotten far celebrity wise by sucking up to the right people, but as an actor, her work just doesn’t have that much depth.
Again I don’t know what happened, and usually the actress in this scenario wouldn’t be the one in a position of power here over a male director. But Blake with Ryan are the powerhouse here and not Justin. So it’s hard to tell.