The movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover's popular book It Ends With Us hit theaters on August 9, 2024. It stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who both also served as executive producers on the project. Justin also directed the flick. Even before this movie was released, fans were critical of it.
The drama only continued as people noticed some weird behavior from Blake, Colleen, and Justin. Although no one has plainly stated a disagreement, it appears there was one. Here's what you should know about the alleged behind-the-scenes drama.
There are issues with the book.
Colleen's novel first came out in 2016. Many readers found it controversial even then. Colleen writes romance novels, but this particular story deals with domestic violence. Some fans have a hard time with the romance label being pinned on a book with such dark themes and think instead it should be considered contemporary fiction.
The subject matter is personal to Colleen, who used her own life experiences as inspiration. The story is loosely based on her parents' marriage and her mom's brave decision to leave Colleen's abusive father.
“One of my earliest memories was him throwing a TV at her,” Colleen recalled to Today in 2023. “We grew up in an abusive household up to that point. She was able to get out of that relationship. And then from then on, I just remember growing up with a mother who was so strong and independent.”
Casting drama happened.
Not all fans of the book were happy when the cast of the film was announced. Blake plays florist Lily Bloom and is 36 years old, while Justin, age 39, plays neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid. In the book the characters were much younger, so people took issue with this. Colleen herself explained why they aged the characters, taking the blame.
“I didn't know that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years. There's not a 20-something neurosurgeon," she stated. “As I started making this movie, I'm like, ‘We need to age them out because I messed up. So that's my fault."
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Clothing caused controversy.
Other fans took issue with Blake's costumes as photos from the set leaked. They believed the clothes made her look too frumpy. Colleen was perplexed by this.
“I don’t remember describing outfits at all. I don’t care what they have on,” she mused on Today. “In my head, it’s about the conversation they’re having and the story. It’s the same way in the movie."
Blake used some of her own clothes and shoes in the film. The pair of knee-high Saint Laurent boots? They are hers in real life.
A coloring book was planned.
In 2023, a coloring book was planned based on the novel. Fans were not happy about this and as a result the project was canceled. Colleen took to Instagram to apologize for offending anyone.
“The coloring book was developed with Lily’s strength in mind, but I can absolutely see how this was tone-deaf," she wrote. "I hear you guys and I agree with you. No excuses. No finger pointing. I have contacted the publisher to let them know I would prefer we don’t move forward with it. Thank you for the respectful discourse and accountability. Nothing but love."
The set had some drama.
After fans noticed that Blake and Justin were not interacting on the press tour for the film, reports broke about on set drama. TMZ reported that Blake felt fat-shamed when Justin asked her weight. She had just given birth to her fourth child. Justin claims to have a bad back and that he just wanted to prepare to lift her without hurting himself.
Another report by US Weekly claimed that Justin felt overshadowed and sidelined by Blake. She would often make decisions without consulting him even though he was the director. This made the set a tense place to work.
Separate press interviews took place.
Fans quickly realized that Justin was not doing any press interviews with Blake, Colleen, or the rest of the cast. He flew solo, which is odd for this kind of ensemble movie. It strengthened the rumor mill that something was wrong.
The premiere was shown in separate theaters.
On August 5, 2024, the film had its big premiere in New York City. Both Blake and Justin attended. They watched the film in separate theaters. This also is peculiar behavior for a premiere.
Why are Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman around?
Ryan Reynolds and his buddy Hugh Jackman have been present for many of the press interviews and premieres. Blake is married to Ryan so it's natural he would want to support her, but this seems to go further. Blake and Ryan appear to be trying to cross-promote their two films to repeat the "Barbenheimer" craze of 2023.
Ryan also appears to have been involved in the creative process as well, rewriting some of the script. Blake praised him on the red carpet. “He works on everything I do,” she explained to E! News. “I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine, and mine are his.”
Blake makes light of a dark subject matter.
Many fans are not happy with how Blake has handled the difficult subject matter of domestic violence. Her character Lily is abused by her boyfriend turned husband Ryle. Blake thinks there is more to the story than that. “This is a story that covers domestic violence but isn’t about domestic violence,” she told Deadline.
Other past awkward interviews have resurfaced with Blake that many believe paint her in a bad light. One of these was with Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa. In the 2016 interview, Kjersti compliments Blake on her pregnancy by commenting on her baby bump. Blake returns the compliment, even though Kjersti is not pregnant.
Justin puts the subject matter center stage.
Justin isn't afraid to call this a story about domestic violence. He is leaning in. “I want men to go to the theater and in some ways see a version of themselves,” he told CBS News. “You have two very different characters. Both of them in Atlas and Ryle have had past trauma. One handles it very different than the other, and my other hope is the men who have not done the work, who have not done the work to heal, if they see bits of themselves in Ryle, have a chance to step back and say, ‘You know what, I don’t want to blow up my life. I don’t want to hurt the person I love the most.’”
