Justin Baldoni claims Taylor Swift backed Blake Lively's 'It Ends with Us' script rewrite demands
Justin Baldoni accused Taylor Swift of backing Blake Lively's alleged demands for him to rewrite parts of the script of It Ends with Us.
PEOPLE Magazine reported that Baldoni, in his 179-page $400 million (P23.4 billion) lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, alleged that Swift was among those who pressured him into accepting one of Lively's rewrites for the film.
Baldoni, the movie's director and co-star, claimed that Lively asked to "take a pass" on the film's rooftop scene, where her character Lily Bloom meets Baldoni's Ryle Kincaid for the first time.
According to Baldoni, he was "reluctant" to let Lively "rewrite this key scene," though he "agreed to take a look at what she put together."
He noted that her version was "dramatically" different from how the script was originally written.
With her "exceedingly mild resistance," Baldoni claimed that Lively "went silent for multiple days." He then recalled texting Lively that her rewrite "didn’t feel great for me." He also mentioned Reynolds and "another megacelebrity friend" who's "influential and wealthy." The filing states that that friend is Swift.
Baldoni said he was "summoned" by Reynolds to their penthouse in New York. Swift supposedly arrived later on and "began praising Lively’s script."
For Baldoni, that meeting meant "he needed to comply with Lively’s direction for the script."
Baldoni said he texted Lively that while her supposed rewrite was "so much more fun and interesting," he "would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor" present. He said he didn't need "Reynolds and her megacelebrity friend to pressure him."
Lively allegedly responded to him by saying she's Khaleesi, a character from the Game of Thrones, and alluded to Reynolds and Swift being her "dragons."
"For better or worse, but usually for better," Lively allegedly said. "Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will, too, I can promise you."
Lively, in another alleged text to Baldoni, also told him that Reynolds and Swift are her "Dance Moms level stage moms."
"They are embarrassingly effusive," she supposedly said of Reynolds and Swift, calling herself the "luckiest motherf***er on the planet" to have them as her supporters and "most trusted partners."
As regards to what happened at Reynolds's penthouse, Lively allegedly responded to Baldoni that, "I think they wanted you and me to see how they felt about [the rewrites] because they've been by my side for far too many experiences where I've been overlooked."
Swift's my tears ricochet was used in the movie and its trailer.
During its premiere in New York on Aug. 6, Lively told E! News that the iconic rooftop scene was "actually" written by Reynolds.
Christy Hall is credited as the screenwriter of It Ends with Us, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover.
It Ends with Us row
Lively and Baldoni's legal saga stemmed from her filing a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni and Jamey Heath, chief executive officer of Wayfarer Studios. She also accused them of running a smear campaign against her.
In her complaint, Lively accused Baldoni and Heath of telling her about their past sexual relationships and "previous porn addiction."
Heath also allegedly showed Lively a video of his wife naked and giving birth.
Baldoni and Heath likewise supposedly entered Lively's makeup trailer without permission, "including when she was breastfeeding her infant child."
Lively also recalled Baldoni claiming he could communicate with the dead, including her father, Ernie Lively. She found it "off-putting and violative."
Following Lively's complaint, the New York Times published a report titled 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine. The report used excerpts from alleged text messages and emails that she obtained through a subpoena and detailed the work of crisis management firm TAG PR for Baldoni, including allegedly planting negative stories in the media.
'Categorically false'
Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman has called the accusations against his client "categorically false." He also said that a crisis manager was hired ahead of the film's marketing campaign "due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production."
Baldoni claimed that Lively threatened him not to show up on set and promote the film.
His legal team also alleged that Lively's camp had "planted negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media."
On Jan. 1, Baldoni filed a $250 million (P14.5 billion) lawsuit against the Times—plus 10 other plaintiffs, including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel—for libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud, and breach of implied-in-fact contract for its We Can Bury Anyone report.
The Times defended its article as "meticulously and responsibly reported."
Baldoni's $400 million (P23.4 billion) complaint against Lively and Reynolds alleges her of hijacking the production of It Ends with Us and that she defamed him. He also accused her and Reynolds of extorting him.
