The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best selling novel, It Ends With Us, is slowly taking over the summer. After launching in cinemas on 9 August, it's become the film everyone is talking about in more ways than one.
While lots of people can't wait to see how the book has been adapted for the big screen or to watch Blake Lively take on the role of Lily Bloom, others are more interested in the supposed BTS drama. Most notably, the alleged rift between co-stars and co-producers Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
The fact that Justin has been absent from most of the film's press events, that there was a distinct lack of group cast photos at the New York premiere and that Blake doesn't follow Justin on Instagram have done nothing but add fuel to the fire.
What is the It Ends With Us drama?
According to The Hollywood Reporter's sources, tension began to arise among the filmmakers during the postproduction process, wherein two different cuts of the movie emerged and apparently created a rift between Blake and Justin. Since then, some of the cast members including Blake appear to have unfollowed Justin on social media and he has been noticeably absent from group press junkets.
Justin not only stars in the film opposite Blake, but he was also the director, and rumour has it he was unhappy with the amount of creative control he had towards the end of the project.
Blake, on the other hand, seems to have been more involved than she was originally supposed to be and even revealed that her husband Ryan Reynolds, who does not star in the film, wrote 'the iconic balcony scene' at the end of the movie. She said, 'We help each other. He works on everything I do. I work on everything he does. So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his.'
It has since been confirmed that while Ryan did write some of the dialogue, he did not write the entire scene. He has been preoccupied with promoting his own film, Deadpool & Wolverine, this summer. The It Ends With Us screenwriter Christy Hall also claims she was unaware of Ryan's involvement in the script and even said the balcony scene was the hardest scene for her to write.
She told People, 'There were a couple of little things that I thought had been improvised. Like when he says, "Pretty please with a cherry on top," and she talks about the maraschino cherries. When I saw a cut I was like, "Oh, that’s cute. That must have been a cute improvised thing." So if I’m being told that Ryan wrote that, then great, how wonderful.'
The Hollywood Reporter also suggested that Blake commissioned a cut of the film from Deadpool & Wolverine editor Shane Reid, though it is unclear whether that is the one that was ultimately used.
What has Justin Baldoni said about the drama?
In one interview, Justin was asked if he will be returning to direct the film's sequel It Starts With Us and said, 'Uhh, I think there are better people for that one. I think Blake Lively is ready to direct. That's what I think.' When Entertainment Tonight shared the clip on TikTok, one user wrote: 'He politely said... "she tried to take over directing the first one, so respectfully she can do the second one, I'm out".' The comment has received more than 12.5k likes.
Another fan joked, 'He said, "It ends with ME".' While a third said, 'Awww I don't like this for him. He did good on this project... he deserves more recognition as a director.'
Regardless of whether Justin directs the sequel, he still plays a central character to the story, so if he decided not to be involved in the film it would definitely cause a stir.
Even the author of the book Colleen Hoover said, 'I think he did a great job' when asked about Justin's role as director and then added, 'I think they all did.' While Jenny Slate, who plays Justin's sister and Blake's best friend in the film, said he had an 'intense job' with two important roles on production and suggested that she wouldn't want to be in his position.
Has there been tension during promotion?
While it's possible that nothing major has happened at all, and none of the co-stars or production team have publicly spoken out against each other, social media has become awash in It Ends With Us theories. One X user joked, 'Are u on TikTok watching 85 hours of random ppl explaining the it ends with us cast drama or are u normal.'
One of the strongest so far is simply that Blake (and Ryan) and Justin had different ideas about how to tell the story. Which, if it did come down to deciding between two final cuts, would make sense.
Another theory circulating is that Justin struggled to star and direct a film that deals with such complex themes including domestic violence. On the red carpet, he got emotional while talking about how difficult he found the role. 'There were a lot of times where I would have to go privately into a room and just cry or shake it out and try to get [Ryle] out of me or that energy out of me,' he explained.
While Justin has consistently drawn attention towards the darker themes of the film, Blake has said 'this is a story that covers domestic violence but it’s not about domestic violence'. This, for some fans, confirms that the pair have different creative visions and understandings of the story.
Meanwhile, others have questioned whether Blake is using the film to promote her haircare line and her and Ryan's status as a power couple. As one X user put it, 'I’ve been looking into the it ends with us drama and I’m seeing that Justin Baldoni is the only one using press to discuss the topic of the movie which is domestic violence and Miss Serena Vanderwoodsen is using it to promote her hair line and Deadpool x Wolverine…'
Other sceptical fans, however, think the 'drama' is all a PR stunt to get people talking about the film – following in the footsteps of Don’t Worry Darling, which created a huge buzz because of a supposed fallout between Harry Styles and Chris Pine, and the alleged affair between Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde. 'Idk about all the theories, I honestly think it’s just promo to get ticket sales,' said one TikToker. Another X spectator wrote, 'It Ends With Us press tour drama is giving Don’t Worry Darling press tour drama and I am once again far too invested.'
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, covering TV, celebrity interviews, news and features.