It Ends with Us director Justin Baldoni addresses on-set "friction"
There have been rumours of a rift between Baldoni and star Blake Lively.
Since the release of Colleen Hoover adaptation It Ends with Us last week, there have been a flurry of rumours about a rift between its star Blake Lively and director and co-star Justin Baldoni.
Speaking with Elle UK, Baldoni admitted to "friction" and "navigating personalities" on the set of the film, although he did not mention Lively by name and hinted that any tensions were actually a good thing for the film.
"It's very challenging to act and direct, and especially with a project like this," he said. "There was a lot of pressure playing such a complex role like Ryle and, of course, as a filmmaker, you're always navigating personalities.
"There are all these things that happen every day on set, there's always friction that happens when you make a movie like this. Then at the end of the day, it's that friction, I believe, that creates the beautiful art."
He added that the process was "hard" but that "everything in life needs friction to grow" and that he "grew so much as both a filmmaker, an actor and as a person throughout this experience".
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Whisperings of a rift between Baldoni and Lively began when fans noticed that they were not conducting any press commitments for the film together, with a string of reports as to the nature of their apparent falling out subsequently emerging.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, the alleged issues came to a head in the post-production process when both Baldoni and Lively had put together competing cuts of the film, while further fuel was added when it emerged via Deadline that Baldoni had hired a crisis PR to deal with the fallout.
An adaptation of Hoover's 2016 romance novel, the film sees Lively star as Lily, a florist overcoming a traumatic childhood who begins a relationship with the seemingly charming neurosurgeon Ryle (Baldoni) – only for her to soon worry that their relationship is reminiscent of the abusive one between her parents.
Despite very mixed critical reviews, the film has performed admirably at the box office so far – so any potential fallout between Lively and Baldoni doesn't seem to have hampered the film's success too much.
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It Ends with Us is now in cinemas.
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