Actor-director Justin Baldoni has filed a USD 400 million lawsuit against his It Ends With Us co-actor Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, accusing the couple of using their influence to take control of the 2024 film, sidelining Baldoni from his own project, and attempting to destroy his career — an accusation that Lively’s legal team has rubbished as “another chapter in the abuser handbook”, reported the US media on Thursday.
“Lively wields immense power as one of the world’s best-known celebrities,” CNN cited a quote from the lawsuit, which alleges that Lively “used that power to seize control of the film” directed by Baldoni, and produced and co-financed by Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios.
“She set out to destroy Plaintiffs’ livelihoods and businesses if they did not bend to her incessant demands, and when they refused to give way, she did exactly that, accusing them of foul and reprehensible sexual misconduct,” the lawsuit reads, according to the US media.
“Lively stole Wayfarer’s movie, hijacked Wayfarer’s premiere, destroyed Plaintiffs’ personal and professional reputations and livelihood, and aimed to drive Plaintiffs out of business entirely,” the lawsuit states.
Baldoni also alleged that Lively demanded to make abrupt changes to the script and scenes of the film, and was backed by Ryan Reynolds in the process.
The case first came to public light in December, when Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during the production of It Ends With Us. Lively alleged that after passing inappropriate remarks on the actress during the production of the film, Baldoni and his team orchestrated a smear campaign to tarnish her reputation.
However, in the latest lawsuit, Baldoni accused Lively of planning and implementing a smear campaign against the director and the production company.
Meanwhile, Lively’s legal team issued a statement to the US press, rubbishing the allegations and calling the move an attempt to “shift the narrative to Lively”.
It Ends With Us, based on the novel of the same name, earned USD 350 million globally, emerging as one of the commercially successful films of the year. Lively and Baldoni play a couple in the film.