The new Blake Lively star vehicle It Ends With Us is a film that I have no intention of watching. The discussion about the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding It Ends With Us, however, I am devouring like a Domino’s pizza after three days of fasting.
The film, based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling book, hasn’t gotten the most stellar reviews. Most critics have been middling to downright damning in their takes, with the Daily Beast’s Obsessed’s Nick Schager calling the film “a squishy drama that treats its serious subject with all the gravity and realism of a Hallmark Channel movie.”
That speaks to a common reaction to the film, which, based on the trailer, appeared to be a swoon-inducing romance: Wait, this is actually about domestic violence?!?!
These reviews and reactions haven’t hurt box office projections. Thursday previews earned a whopping $7 million, while weekend estimates rocket as high as $55 million. That is huge in today’s landscape.
All of that, however, has been overshadowed by rumors floating on social media and in gossip blogs of a feud between the film’s stars, directors, and producers that ensnares Lively, husband Ryan Reynolds, director and star Justin Baldoni, and co-star Jenny Slate. Not since the Don’t Worry Darling press tour has there been such juicy off-camera ego drama to parse.
Even industry outlets like Glamour and The Hollywood Reporter are flouting any nerves about hurting future access to Lively and Reynolds by covering the scuttlebutt. And these are deep dives, folks: TikTok conspiracy theories, body language analysis, dissecting press tour quotes and interviews… all the tinfoil hat stuff that could be groundbreaking, could be meaninglessly speculative, and, either way, I live for.
The long and short of it: Fans started noticing that Baldoni, who produced, directed, and plays the love-interest-turned-villain, has been largely absent from the film’s press tour, while Lively and Reynolds, who was a producer, were everywhere. They also spotted that no one in the cast took photos with him at the premiere red carpet and that they also don’t follow him on social media.
@jennaredfield Replying to @Jenna Redfield more thoughts about what’s happening behind the scenes Clarification: I meant box office this weekend will likely come in above DP, not overall. This is all speculation. Please wait for media confirmation on anything being said/theorized. #itendswithus #justinbaldoni #blakelively #ryanreynolds #hughjackman ♬ original sound - Jenna Redfield
Theorists are also reading a lot into Slate’s red carpet interview, where she was asked what it was like having Baldoni as a director and scene partner, and she pivoted almost entirely, simply saying that it’s a “tough job” to wear multiple hats and she would never want to do that. One user on X wrote, “Oh Queen Jenny Slate… so something DEFINITELY happened on the set of It Ends With Us and everyone hates Justin Baldoni. I need to get to the bottom of it.”
After Lively told one reporter that Reynolds rewrote a pivotal scene in the film that takes place on a roof, speculation began that she and Reynolds took over the film’s creative process, pushing Baldoni out. There are also reports that Lively commissioned her own final cut of the film.
Is there truth to any of this? Hell if I know. But once in a while, the Extremely Online community bands together to go entirely overboard in their investigations into drama like this, and, while entirely icky—there’s no real proof in anything—we’d be lying if we didn’t admit that it’s all pretty entertaining to track.
At a time when press tours are polished and manufactured to the point that no one actually says anything of substance, we’ll never get a full, truthful answer on what happened. That’s to the detriment of the actors involved, because what happens instead is all of us engage in this rumormongering. Bring back media circuits where the stars actually say something useful—especially if it means I don’t have to spend any more of my time scrolling through conspiracy TikToks.
