Justin Baldoni Speaks Of "Friction" On Set Of It Ends With Us

The It Ends With Us press tour is almost as big as the movie itself, with fans rampantly speculating that co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni clashed at some point. And the more that comes out, the more that looks to be the case. In a new interview with ELLE UK, Baldoni, who also directed the film, acknowledged that there was “friction” on set.

“There are all these things that happen every day on set, there’s always friction that happens when you make a movie like this,” he explained. “Then at the end of the day, it’s that friction, I believe, that creates the beautiful art. Everything in life needs friction to grow.”

Baldoni had nothing but praise for Lively, calling her a “powerhouse” and comparing her to a Ferrari. “It really was incredible just in terms of helping me craft the performance,” he said. “She touched so many aspects of this production, and everything she touched she made better. She’s so responsive and she’s so reactive.”

But he still acknowledged the difficulty of making this movie. “We created something so beautiful and so magical, and it was hard, and it was worth it at the same time,” he said. “And I grew so much as both a filmmaker, an actor, and as a person throughout this experience.”

Blake & Justin’s Reported Clash

Fans noticed that Lively and Baldoni didn’t interact at all while promoting It Ends With Us. In fact, the rest of the cast and author Colleen Hoover did several appearances with Lively, but not Baldoni, meaning all of his press was solo. In addition, Lively and several others do not follow Baldoni on Instagram even though he follows them.

It quickly emerged that Lively, who is also an executive producer, and Baldoni had creative differences after filming wrapped. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lively reportedly commissioned her own edit of the film. But her editor, Shane Reid, was not credited on the project, and one insider noted the entire team was happy with the final cut.

Lively alluded to creative disagreements in an interview with Hits Radio UK, saying she fought to keep Lana Del Rey’s song “Cherry” in the movie. ““I’m not supposed to be talking about this. They begged me to take that song out of the movie,” she said, without specifying the “they” in question.

Justin Hired Crisis PR

On Aug. 12, People reported that their feud went beyond creative differences, without getting into specifics. “All is not what it seems,” a set source told the outlet. “There is much more to this story. The principal cast and Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with him.”

Later that day, THR reported that Baldoni hired PR crisis manager Melissa Nathan, who represented Johnny Depp during his trial against ex-wife Amber Heard. While it’s not clear what this means for the actor-director, the timing is raising fans’ eyebrows, given the rumors of his clash with Lively.