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Legally Brunette: Blake Lively vs. Justin Baldoni Part 2

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Published Jan 29, 2025, 5:00 AM

The legal battle continues between “It Ends With Us” co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Emily and Shane dive into new lawsuits, leaked texts, and breaking news that has surfaced over the past weeks. 

Hi guys, Welcome to Legally Brunettes. I'm your host, Emily Simpson with my co host, the most Interesting man in the.

World, Shane Simpson.

Okay, first of all, I think we just need to do a little I think it's always important to go back and do just a little summary of things that we've already talked about. So let's just do a little update. In the Menindez case, they were scheduled to have hearings, but because of the fires, their resentencing hearing has been rescheduled to March twentieth and the twenty first. I do know that the DA, Nathan Hockman, has now met with not only the side of the family. There's the one member of the family who did not want them to be resentence that's Milton, who is Kitty's brother, But he has also met with the pro resentencing family, which is like twenty four members of the family. So he has now met with all the family and they'll be a hearing March twentieth and the twenty first, which obviously we will update at that time period. But also I just want to say, because a lot of you as me, what do I think the DA will do?

Wait? Can I ask questions before you say what you think the DA will do? Yeah, do you think the I'm sure the fires are a valid reason and are causing the courts to have to delay lots of things. But do you think they jumped on that to delay it like they had they had good read, like they wanted to personally delay it and this gave him the excuse, or you think it would have gone through had there not been the fires.

No, I think it was legitimately the fires. I heard from that A lot of the das in that office lost their homes, and I think it's chaotic, So you think it's I think it was a legitimate.

Okay, there was an ulterior type motive in doing so, No, okay, But just.

A reminder, it is not Pakman that makes the resentencing decision. It is the judge. All the all Nathan Hoffman will do is person through the case, present it. He'll have a recommendation, but then ultimately the judge makes the decision. So let's move on. This is our second podcast on Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, which is it is just it is it is brewing. We did part one, so if you haven't listened to that, yet I would suggest you go back and listen to that and then come back. We are now talking about Justin Baldoni filed a lawsuit against Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and their publicist.

Wait before you get into that, so where did it leave off? It left off with what filing or where was the status of the parties? Okay, now going into detail.

Just so lit'sten. Just do a little background. First, Blake Lively in December files the CRD complaint, which is with the California Civil Rights Department. That was the administrative complaint, which by the way, is not a public complaint. But then but she filed that along with New York Times writing the story. That was basically taking her complaints and making that the story. And then there was also the whole allegation of they altered some of the text messages, they left context out, et cetera. So Justin Baldoni, in response to that, files his libel suit again the New York Times.

Right, because they didn't He's claiming they didn't paint the whole they didn't provide the whole story. Right, They picked and choose chose what they wanted to show, which is probably what what is the mediast and probably what sided with Blake Lively because she was their source, right, or maybe they were negligent in looking into it any further and just ran with what was given to them, right. And now he's saying, that's not me, that's painting me in a bad light, exactly.

So again, let me I'll just give you just a little legal background on libel. When you're talking about a new source and you're talking about a public figure, the standard to prove defamation, which is libel, is actual malice. And that's a very very very high standard.

Very different means intentional. It means that bad.

Practice that they knowingly published something that they knew to be false. So you know, he has an uphill battle on that. But I think it was very important that he filed that because he really got his side of the story out there quickly, and I think that was a smart move on his behalf. She then files a federal lawsuit in New York, which is basically a mirror image of the complaint she filed with the Civil Rights Department.

And just to be clear, the Civil Rights Spartman is the equivalent of like the Better Business Bureau or something. It's just like an agency or some type of body that receives your complaints and just documents it.

And I think she filed with that because I don't think that she had the intent of ever filing an actual lawsuit against him.

Okay, that was her intent to collude.

With the New York Times and to get this story out there that he sexually harassed her and that he planned this smear campaign against her to ruin his reputation.

So do you think her intent was to ruin his reputation? Yes? And why?

Opinion?

And why?

Because I think when she was promoting the movie it ends with us, she got such bad press by her own decisions as to how to promote the movie. She received a lot of backlash from the public, and I think she found a way to turn it around on him and make him the bad guy in this scenario, and that was her intent. So then she files his federal lawsuit. I think she filed it because she got pressure from the public that they were like, hey, if you're accusing this guy of sexually harassing you, why are you just filing it, Why are you just filing an administrative complaint? Why are you not actually standing up for yourself? If you are a woman that has been sexually harassed. So she files it in federal court. He files. Now, this is where we're up to now, and this is what we're going to try to focus on in this this session. He files a lawsuit against her, Ryan Reynolds and their publicist, and it's on behalf of himself, Wayfairer, which is his studio, the producer, you know, his partner, and his finance guy who's also a partner and part of wayfair his name Sarrowitz.

He's suing just the New York Times.

No, we're talking to past the New York Times.

Okay, we're moving on.

The newest lawsuit that we're going to focus on today right now is justin Baldoni versus versus Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and their publicist. Let's just keep it like that. We'll just be okay now.

So that's some deep pockets New York Times in one suit, and then Ryan Reynolds and another because we all know Ryan Reynolds, like was affiliate with some cellular company that succeeded. It did well and was acquired and he cashed a lot of money. Nothing wrong with that, but he certainly got hundreds of I understand hundreds of millions of dollars, right, But I will.

Tell you Justin Baldoni. One of his partners in Wayfairer is Steve Sarrowitz, who is a multi billionaire, and he has been drug into this lawsuit.

How do he get dragged in?

Because he's part of the founding fathers of Wayfairer studios, he's like a silent finance guy behind the studio.

Well not so silent anymore. Isn't have to speak up?

Well, I think he's writing checks. Like I think he came Brian Friedman a playing check and said, take these.

People cleaners, take them out.

Yeah, And so that's where we're at.

Wow.

So the complaint that Justin Baldoni filed is one hundred and seventy nine pages. I read it twice. I think it's important, and let's just go through I'm gonna do. Let's just do a little summary of basically what he's alleging.

In his I can't go over one hundred and eighty pages. That'd be dull. We can't.

Let's do Let's just do a little summary of it. And then I have some things that I pulled out that I think are important. So Baldoni, Wayfair Studios, his publicists christ and his crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit on Thursday, I don't remember the date. This is like two weeks ago in New York federal court against Lively, her husband, her publicist, and the firm Vision pr. The suit basically claims that Lively, who was publicly blasted for her tone deaf motion of a film It Ends with Us, centered around domestic violence, but she could not tolerate her publicly tainted image for a moment and decided to use Baldoni as a scapegoat by accusing him of harassment and creating a hostile work environment. His latest lawsuit repeats many of the claims that he made in his December thirty first libel action against The New York Times. Baldoni cited Lively's constant attempts to change things about the film, he was aggressively berated by Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds, and that Lively persistently tried to overset Baldoni in the editing process. So I decided I thought it was important to make an outline of I like outlines. I like to have a timeline of things, so let's just start with twenty nineteen. This is when Justin Baldoni reads the book.

It ends with us, okay, on his own head, that book reads the book, not a script the book.

He reads the book. I've read the book. He reads the book, he resonates with it. He founded wayfair Stut Videos on the premise of creating content that was meaningful and positive, and he wanted to make an impact. Okay, it's kind of that kind of guy.

Okay. So he likes movies with substance.

Movies with substance, movies with a purpose. He made a movie prior to this called five Feet Apart or something like that, and it had to do with a woman dealing with cystic fibrosis. So his intent with forming Wayfarer is to make movies that have a meaningful impact. So he reaches out to Colleen Hoover.

So far, so good.

Yes, he reaches out to Colleen Hoover, who wrote the book, and he includes all these emails between the two of them, which I think is important.

This is her first movie, her first novel that turned to movie. Well.

She says in her emails that someone else bought a book option to make a movie, but it never happened.

Ye, and it never happened. So this is her first novel that turned in went onto the big screen. Right.

And he includes all these emails between him and Colleen Hoover in his complaints, and you can tell that they have a very good chemistry. She likes him, she sees movies that he's made. They have a great rapport. She respects him. She says, I think you are the man to make this movie.

She says that in the email.

Yes, and it's very important to her that this movie is made in a way where it reflects the seriousness of domestic violence, because that is what the movie is about.

I would believe that it's kind.

Of a generational because if you read the book or you know anything about the story, the main character, Lily Bloom, has to deal with some domestic violence when she marries Ryle, but she also had domestic violence in her past between her mother and father, and her mother never left. So it delves into the center.

And the author didn't want that to be taken away, right, So she says.

I think you're the man to do this. I think you can make the movie in a way that it should be made. And she also suggests that he play the main character Ryle.

So oh wait, okay, So not that this proves anything, but it's definitely she'll chemistry and approval of him and his interactions, right, Okay.

So he buys the rights to this movie, or Wayfair Studios buys it. They partner with Sony. He also partners and I think this is important because I think this goes to really show his intent and his character. He also partners with No More dot Com, which is a domestic violence group, and he wants one percent of all the proceeds from the movie to go to No More.

Okay, And that was on his own phrase, on his.

Own and he negotiates that. So then in December of twenty twenty.

Two, So this sounds like it's he's really doing all this so he can have a defense when files are claimed against him. Right, this is all harassing Blake Lively in the dance floor, That's what it sounds like. It's very intelligent man.

Yeah. So then in December of twenty twenty two, they cast Blake Lively as Lily Bloom. I think it's important to note that when she is cast in this movie. The scope of her employment is lead actress.

Actress, lead actress, not lead editor, not lead editor, lead actress not director.

Right. They also she gets I guess an executive.

Ryan Reynolds any way, he was not. Okay, he's husband of lead actress.

He's a husband of good actress. That's it. And she is given an executive producer credit, which they state that that's common when someone's an A list actress, that that's just a norm that comes along with it. First of all, I just want to establish some things because we're going to get into that ten minute video and let's talk about that that was released by Baldoni's team. But let's talk about right from the beginning of this movie, Blake Lively exerts control over basically everything, but the first thing is wardrobe. She completely gets rid of the wardrobe that they've curated for this character, Lily Bloom, who is a twenty three year old who just graduated from college and she's opening up a small business, which is a Flora's shop. How old is Blake Lively in her life? Blake Lightly is thirty seven. She's playing a twenty three year old.

That's insane, Okay, and the character in the movie is still twenty three. Yes, okay, okay, Well, no, I think or young as young in the early twenties.

Well, I think they don't address her age in the movie, but I do.

I did read, and.

I'm not sure where I read this, but that Blake Lively wanted Colleen Hoover during this when they're interviewing about the movies, to talk about how they aged up the character.

But nonetheless, she now added to her role. What's it called when you get the clothes wardrobe?

Wardrobe?

Thank you? Okay, So now she took on the title of wardrobe.

Yes, so she takes over wardrobe. She gets rid of all that they all that they've bought for this character. She isn't like any of it.

Do you have email histories or texting histories of this.

I think there's a little bit, but trust me, you don't even need text message up because I saw the movie and I'm sorry, but the wardrobe on Lily Bloom was a disaster. It was chaotic. I remember sitting in the movie theater watching it and I couldn't pay attention to what was going on because I kept thinking, what is she wearing?

It was what's like the dressed like in real life.

I don't know. I don't really pay attention to what she dresses like. But here's the problem. I don't think Blake Lively read the book. He alleges that in his complaint. I don't think she understood the essence of the character, and I think she tried to make it into something else that did not work.

She also not why why did she a certain style?

I think she just wanted a certain style. I think she She talks about how she wore some of her husband's clothes, how she wore some of Gigi Hadid's clothes, that she wore her own clothes that she wore. I don't know.

I'm to wear a deadpool outfant she wear her husband's clothes?

No, she She wore a lot of oversized things that just it was all right. It was beanies and car hearts and camo jackets. And I don't know. The wardrobe was hideous if you ask me. It was basically ignoring the director's vision for her character and disposing of the weeks of effort and creativity spent by the wardrobe team. The costume designer had to reshop the entire wardrobe. Also, during this time period, paparazzi took photos of her filming, and people online were also talking about how this is chaotic. So I want to show you some images. Also, the other thing that really bothered me was that she carried Valentino bags all the time. We're talking about this character is a twenty three year old girl who, when I read the book, thought she came from just a regular middle class family who went to college, had just graduated from college and opened up a small business, probably with a business loan or you know. I didn't ever take away from the book that there was money. So the fact that she's wearing these chaotic outfits with a Valentino bag really bothered me. But anyway, I'm gonna show you some of these outfits.

Oh yeah, that looks like, uh, what is that like?

I don't understand what that is. Is that boxers with it is a little confused low pants over the top of the boxer.

That is bad. Also, I don't even think I could try to dress that bad.

She's also supposed to be twenty three, and I am not putting down Blake.

Likely that's great, but she's not twenty three.

Blake lightly is thirty seven, She's had four children. She's beautiful. I'm not even though I don't particularly like her, I would never not say that she doesn't look good. Also, there's one other thing I have to say about this flower shop in the movie that really bothered me. And I haven't ever heard anyone else comment on it, But when I envision this flower shop that Lily Bloom, she opens up a small.

Business as a floorist.

Yeah, then the flower shop that they depicted in the movie, Like, are there any live flowers in this flower shop? Or is it all dead dry flowers? I was so confused about the aesthetics of this flower shop.

Well they should have had yeah that they should have been on top of that, right.

It had this very edgy, dark, dead flower kind of feel, and I was so confused by it. I was like, this woman opened a flower shop and these where are the bright live flowers? Anyway, that bothered me. I don't know if it bothered anyone else or if anyone else noticed that it is, but I felt the need to still talk about it because it bothered me. She also starts rewriting scenes. There's the iconic rooftop scene where Lily and Ryle first meet, she wants to take a stab at rewriting the entire scene. Again. She hasn't read the book, so I think. So Justin is like, okay, why don't you? And there are text messages.

I wonder if it was her.

Reynolds, I don't know. I mean, that's a good point, but Justin is. You can tell in his messages with her that he's like, okay, like he he knows that he has to give her what she wants.

I've been in his positions.

He's walking on eggshells. You can tell she's like, I have to give her a little and try not to let her just completely take over. So he's like, okay, well, why.

He's trying to keep peace. He's trying to appease her, probably only as far as he's okay with.

Right, So she rewrites this rooftop scene. She gives it back to him, and in a text message, he says something to the effect of he thanks her for her passion, and then says something to the effect of it most likely will end up being a mix of what the original script is and maybe some of your ideas. Then she sends him this big, long text, and this is where we get into I'm sure if you've seen the articles, this is where we get into the Game of Thrones texts. Okay, Well, she basically sends him this long text talking about it's really making reference to Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift and about how they are her. She writes this scene and then she gives it to him, and she's pissed that he said thank you for your passion, like she didn't like that. So she writes him back this long text about this scene, and she basically refers to herself, I'll.

Read it being a swift you have to do with anything.

I don't know. If you ever get around to watching Game of Thrones, you'll appreciate that. I'm Kalisi and like her, I happen to have a few dragons, for better or worse, but usually the better because my dragons also protect those that I fight for. So really, we all benefit from these gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you to me. That's a very veiled threat. That's basically like, look, buddy, I had Taylor Swift and Ryan Reynolds backing me, and they're telling me that what I wrote was great.

Yeah, what does that have to do with What do they have to do with anything.

I think she's just using I know everybody.

Now. It demonstrates that she thinks someone as successful as Taylor Swift and Ryan Reynolds makes like she's trying to say, like, I got those people behind me, so you better do as I say.

Right.

So, then not like they're in the industry and they have credibility and they're saying this is good and we should listen to their advice. It's like Taylor Swiss is my bestie and therefore that's stupid.

And also it's not just that scene. I think she rewrites that scene, But then as far as as his complaint goes, she consistently rewrites scenes, rewrites the script.

She probably didn't know how to read the script. I don't know what I don't like her.

I know you're getting very frustrated over there.

And I liked Ryan Reynolds, yeah, and now I don't know if I like them. She when she mentions her husband, she wouldn't have done that unless they were already having intense conversations. No, it's not like he just says, oh, yeah, that sounds great, whatever you want, no big deal, and then she runs and says, I got Ryan Reynolds backing me up. Yeah, they probably had heavy discussions. He might even said he might help, you know, he probably helped her write that.

Oh well, then that's very interesting because then during the premiere of the movie, they asked her about the rooftop scene, and she goes, oh, I'll let you in on a little secret. I've never told anyone this before, but Ryan actually wrote that song.

Oh yes.

So then in the complaint, she's trying to give him credit. You know, I don't know. I don't know if it was Ryan, I don't know if it was her. I don't know if it was both of them. I don't know how much was.

Actually said it was him, But I mean she was trying what a so then and we canceled them already.

So then then the complaint, justin Baldoni, includes letters going back and forth between Sony and Wayfair and people are like, hey, did he write the scene? Because do we need to give him writing credit? And everyone's confused, right, and they don't know what's going on. So I to me, I feel nothing but sorry for this guy.

After that shows when Blake Lely doesn't know her scope of work what she was hired for and to respect other people's positions, and she just takes over. And then what you said where she says, Oh, I'm going to let you know a little secret run on Reynolds wrote it. Then she's stupid for not knowing how the industry works, where you can't. I mean, there's credits on those movies for a reason, and they follow whatever the guidelines are with the unions and whatever it is to make sure people get the credit they deserve. And here she has this thrown out credit Willie Nilly in a big pr you know interview, right.

So then behind the scenes there's all these you know, communications going back and forth of like do we have to give him a writing credit? Did he really write it? What's going on? We don't understand.

So I don't know why you like her. I always did up until recently.

I actually went into studying this case very impartially.

I used to like Ryan Reynolds only from two Me and a Girl in a Pizza Place that was his TV show he had a long time ago, and then he never did a good movie since No, you don't think no, but he has a great agent because he did a lot of flops. So that's that agent is earning his money. And no, I definitely don't like Ryan and I fell asleep during the first Deadpool, yeah, and I never saw the others.

Right, well, we have to get to dead Sell because you ought that has to do with that. All right, let's move on to the scene that is. It's the ten minute scene that's all over Brian Friedman.

This is that dancing scene.

That's the dancing I didn't watch it yet, Well you were supposed to, but.

Well I read about it.

So Brian Friedman releases it and it's ten minutes long. I watched some of it, not the whole thing.

Okay, hold on. What I do know is from what I read, she didn't think there was audio. Yeah, and so if if from her point of view she did not believe there was audio, it was only video because it's just used as them, whether it's like background music or whatever. Right, it's just like silent scenes of them being intimate or whatever. Right, So she didn't think there was audio, and so she used that scene to be able to create her own narrative. Yeah, I agree, And we learned from earlier in the succession of Baldini, smart enough to protect himself from being you know that he probably had a mic on him for a reason.

Probably so. The video of the end it ends with a set footage. It was provided by Baldoni's team, and it shows footage of Lively filming a scene with Baldoni in which their character slow dance for a slow motion montage intended to have no dialogue. The co stars speak to each other out of character while filming. You know. She jokes about his nose. She says he should take I don't know what, an insurance month. But she tells him he should get a nose job and take an insurance month. I'm sure that's movie lingo. She talks about, don't knows with She talks about Ryan and how they look into each other's eyes or something, and he says.

Oh, she's comfortable talking.

And talking out of character. She accuses him of not being in character during this scene, and that's supposedly what makes her uncomfortable is he's not Rile, He's being himself. So that's why you.

Say character is to make fun of his nose.

Right, So she's uncomfortable, but she's also out of character too. She's talking about you know.

Now I'm going to compare Baldini's nose to Ryan's nose. It's what's his name? I want to compare their noses. See what's her deal?

Anyway, they released the footage as far as I'm concerned, Look, let's be honest. Here an intimate romantic scene between two actors that are married to other people and have children with other people. I'm sorry that professional for decades, right, but I don't care. It's inherently uncomfortable. Regardless you have to make out with someone. These two people are in love.

Well, a professional, it would not be inherently awkward because they would get into character and they would do it. And maybe everyone has different levels of awkwardness or uncomfortableness or whatever, but you're a professional, and that's what the job calls for.

Right. Well, she is claiming that she was uncomfortable, that there's no intimacy coordinator on SEIDS, and you know, his complaint alleges that she never signed her nudity writer and that she never met with them.

Tell me what a nudy writer is, because you've been talking about that all week and I have no idea what a nudy.

Because I need my own nudity writer is tell me what it is and I'll let you know. So, when there is an actress or an actor in a movie and they have to do simulated sex scenes, they have a separate contract that's called a nudity writer.

Is that like their boundaries or something?

I believe. So, I've never read one, but I looked it up and basically, an intimacy coordinator looks at the nudity writer. It's a contract and they say, Okay, it looks good. This is what you're comfortable with with you or not. Maybe this is when you use a stunt double.

This is oh, but then what was the intimacy coordinator?

The intimacy coordinator is a person that's supposedly on set that actually works out the sex scenes and the romantic scenes. Okay, there is an intimacy coordinator that they hired for this movie, and she she claims that she's uncomfortable, but she could have met with an intimacy.

But I'm surprised they were able to move forward without her agreeing or meeting with this intimacy coordinator.

Well, there's a text message where he says, do you want to meet with her? And she's no, it's like, no, I'm good.

I remember you tell me that, But I can't imagine why they move forward. They should have been like, well, no, then you sign here to wave it. Like when someone gets injured at work and they fall and they get hurt and they're like, no, I don't want medical attention. It's like, okay, then sign here saying you wave medical attention so you can't later say you didn't get it. So that's where he messed up. No I don't and I'm not saying he did anything bad or wrong, but he messed up by saying, okay, then you sign here saying that you wave an intimacy coordinator.

Well, I don't think she's necessarily waving it. She's just saying waving the meeting waving it. Yeah, so I so okay. Well, he goes to these meetings with the intimacy coordinator, he takes handwritten notes, and then he has to go back and share these handwritten notes with her. Apparently this scene, the scene, this montage, this romantic scene where they're kissing. Apparently she knew about the scene and she rewrote the scene. That's what he alleges. So the fact that she feels uncomfortable To me, looks like a retroactive way to go back and look for something that at the time was probably innocuous or benign or not really that big of a deal. But it's a way for her to latch onto something and say, hey, I felt uncomfortable there. M hm.

So didn't they have Did they have any intimate scenes in the movie?

Yeah, there's a lot.

So why didn't she use those scenes because those scenes character I felt something down there.

No, I'll tell you why. Because those scenes were filmed after the break, after they went on strike, production shut down.

Okay, but how does that break change things? So is that she can't bring up those scenes.

Because those weren't filmed. This movie is divided into two parts. They filmed half of the movie, then there were the strikes. The strikes they did not film between June twenty seventh and November ninth. During that time period, she was asking for the raw footage, which is called dailies. I had to look this up. Dailies is just the raw footage from the day. It's not edited.

It's just the raw foot which is timestamp for that day. R.

Yeah, something happened between June twenty seventh and November ninth, when she when they go the strike ends, they can go back to work, and she sends a letter via her attorneys saying she refuses a film unless they sign this seventeen conditions that they all have to agree to for her to return to work. It's these protections that she needs in place. This is what I think happened. I think she was asking for the raw footage because she wants to take over. She wants to edit it. He's giving her a little because he's walking on eggshells all the time around her. He has to keep her happy. He has to give her what she wants because in this she gets the raw footage. I think Ryan Reynolds sees the raw footage. I think Justin Baldoni is a very handsome man, is he? I think I think he's very good looking. And they have these intimate scenes together. They have to kiss, they have to be close. I think Ryan Reynolds got jealous and I think something happened during that time period where he was not happy about this close working relationship between the two of them, and he wanted to exert his power in his ego. He wanted to put this guy in his place, like, this is my wife. And she has a history of having relationships with her co stars. When she was on Gossip Girl, she had a relationship with one of the other actors. Wasn't he was married to Scarlet Johansson on Green Lantern? And then Wasn't She on Was she in the movie too? And then he ended up being with her. Anyway, she has a history of dating her co stars or having relationships.

With her car and Ryan probably knows.

This, and he knows this. I think he became extremely jealous. I think he did not want Justin Baldoni to have all the control and power that he had. He owns the movie, his studio is the one producing it, he's the director. He has these scenes with her. He's a good looking guy. I think he probably.

Said his nose.

I mean, the nose doesn't bother me at all. I'm fine with the note. But I don't know. Maybe he saw the scene where he takes his shirt off, because.

Those dailies, so we don't know what they saw because it didn't Maybe there was some right.

There's also a lot of flirtatious texts between them, and I don't mean flirtatious in the way where I think there were lines crossed. I just mean there was a good working relationship between the two of them in the beginning.

They were comfortable before the strikes, right, Like, what would be an example, even if you're just paraphrase, just she.

Sends him lots of text praising him and how they're working together and they're collaborating, and she's so excited to be on this journey with him and they're going to make this great.

Movie, basically saying I'm not uncomfortable with you, right, Okay, who's better looking Ryan or what was his name? Justin?

Oh?

Justin?

Oh? Yeah, oh yeah, like hands down.

But Ryan's considered good looking.

Yeah, I mean he's not a bad looking guy. I think he's good looking. But I think Justin Baldoni's beautiful, Like, he's a beautiful man. You ask.

So, I don't know. I heard his nose is pretty big, so he might want to reconcined.

I don't know. That doesn't bother me. I told you, let's talk about Maybe there is the possibility that Ryan Reynolds read some of the text messages between Justin and Blake.

Yeah.

Sure, because some of the text messages that he includes in his complaints are flirty, and we talked about this a little bit before. Yeah, they're definitely not just work related. They get into you know, there's there's a text exchange where he says something to the effect of like, oh, I like nice Blake or I like vulnerable Blake. I don't remember what it was, and she said, oh, you mean instead of asshole Blake and he's like, yeah, I don't know. They just they're being friendly, maybe too friendly. But I think, to me, I think he's just going with whatever direction she goes in, so that he's just kind of on the same page with her. But let's say maybe Ryan Reynolds got a hold of her phone saw these text messages between the two of them also.

Which added to the concern that he had right her and being close to the co star.

Right, So maybe if we look at it as he's he's seen this raw footage of the two of them together, the chemistry between them is palpable.

Knows who knows what Blake old Ryan to explain. He says, what are these text messages? And then she has to say, oh, he smelled me when we were dancing it, right, So I think that it might just be a conglomeration of he's a good looking guy, this is his movie.

He's the director, he's the producer. They have an intimate working relationship. I think they get friendly in the beginning, and they have a lot of friendly banter. I think they also spend a lot of time together because she wants to rewrite all these scenes and rework things, and he says in his complaint that they spend long hours together into the night, laughing and rewriting scenes together. I think maybe not only was Ryan jealous of maybe what he saw in these dailies when she starts asking for this raw footage, but also the text messages the rapport between them, because to me, it seems like there was such a shift from the first half of the movie being filmed yeah, to the second half that maybe Ryan Reynolds came in put his foot down and said, we're going to squash this guy. He's not going to talk to my wife like that. He's not going to get close to my wife like that.

I'm a Deadpool. I am dead Pool. This is not a robber. So wow.

Anyway, here's my final thought on the ten minute scene that was released.

Oh wait, that ten minutes unedited yes, it's just raw footage, ten minutes of them dancing right and talking. Well, they're just capturing footage, right, Okay, go ahead.

And then she says in her complaint that he, you know, kissed her down her neck and said it smells so good, which sounds so creepy, but I tell you smell good all the time. Yeah, okay, it sounds a little creepy. But when you watch the actual footage, she she says, I'm sorry about my spray tond and you know, my body makeup or whatever, and he goes, no, it smells good. That's completely different.

Well, that was very nice of him, because I know, first hands very handsy, not small.

They don't. I was being very he was being kind. I think he was being kind trying to make her feel comfortable. Anyway, my takeaway is that you're talking about a woman who has exerted control from day one over this movie. She didn't want to meet with an intimacy coordinator. She takes over the wardrobe, she rewrites scenes, she rewrites the script, she asks for the dailies, she wants to edit the movie herself. And you're gonna tell me that she felt uncomfortable. Yeah, if if she was legitimately uncomfortable and felt like it was to the level of a sexual harassment allegation, you're gonna tell me that she wouldn't walk away, that she wouldn't demand the intimacy coordinator.

Now know that Ryan Reynolds was involved, not saying it was inappropriate, but he's in faulved of the script. You know, he rewrote some scenes and all this stuff, and then plus us thinking that he was jealous, right, and then he's gonna let her get I'm sorry, if you came home and we're telling me about someone at work that was inappropriate to you or make you feel uncomfortable, I wouldn't be like, oh well, let's just rewrite the scene. Oh well, let's just not let him come to the premiere, Oh well, let's just write this little thing with the civil Board whatever. I would be like, no, let that's either quit, like get away, or we need to do something about this. So you're so liared.

So you're saying that all of these allegations would have been addressed in the moment at that time, not later in a lawsuit.

And I can appreciate that some people and maybe women in this case might not until later, and there's many reasons why people might hold off making a formal complaint. I get that, But she had Ryan Reynolds backing her up, and he is not uncomfortable in the workplace. He's very familiar, they have resources, they have decades of experience to know what's appropriate, inappropriate, they would have done something right then and there.

I don't disagree with that, all right. I just want to take one other thing from his complaint because I have a feeling that if they end up releasing any more raw footage, it will be this scene. That's just me speculating, Okay, what is it? She also talks about in her original complaint that she was very uncomfortable during the birthing scene. There's a scene where she gives birth, and she talks about how she only had like a small strip of just like barely any fabric over her, you know, nother region.

Okah, has she Oh? Okay, all right?

She claims that like the set's chaotic and that she's basically just laying there naked, and that she's uncomfortable in his complaint because then in her seventeen you know, she lists out these seventeen protections that have to be in place before she will go back and film the rest of this movie. She claims that all the day players must be hired through their talent agencies because the man who played the obgyn in that scene was a friend of Justin Baldoni's. So she makes it like he just called his buddy and was like, hey, you want to be the obguy N. You want to just you know, I want to see Blake Lively.

You know it's only gonna be a little strip, and then.

This is a little buddy, come on in. He then, in his complaint, makes it very clear that the man who played the obg y N had like a master's in Fine Arts from UCLA, that he was in a touring group, that he.

Was he an actor.

He's a legitimate he's a legitimate actor. Also, he claims that she had on a pregnancy suit, black briefs, and a hospital gown. And so I feel like if they release any other footage from this movie, like they did with that other scene, this would be the scene that just okay.

So we only have he said, she said, she's claiming what she wore, and he's claiming that she had some big pregnancy suit on with black pants or something or whatever, something unattractive, right.

Right, So anyway, I think that's probably if they start releasing scenes because.

He might have invited us, right, I'd been like, hey, I'm gonna flick with Blake Lively if you want, like a good scene. Not necessarily like creepy. No, but they could have been legitimate, like, hey, you know what, it'd be kind of cool. He'd being with Blake Lightly. It's a pretty big movie.

Yeah, No, I think his I think it was his friend, but I think his friend was also a legitimate actor.

I know. But I'm saying it's it's fair for someone to be like, hey, that would be like, like, hey, you want to be in a little scene with Blake Lively. That'd be pretty cool. Well, it didn't have to be always be creepy to invite someone. They could have been legitimate, like hey, this is the opportunity, you know, if you want to be on share screen with her.

Also, Blake Lively's sister was in the movie. Oh yeah, yeah, do you remember teams in the nineties. Yeah, that's her sister. It's her half sister.

Are we talking Sabrina?

Not that teen which there is a movie called teen Witch. It is from the nineties. My sister and I used to watch it all the time. There was a rap scene in it. If you guys listen, are you listening to me right now?

Go google the rap.

Scene and teen witch. It will get stuck in your head.

I don't know.

It is amazing.

There's no bewitch. That was the only one.

No, that's not what I'm talking I know, but that's what I watched. All right, let's move on. I can't go through the entire complaint because it is so much, but I want to get to the end of this movie.

So well, wait, hold on, one hundred and eighty pages. It's all pretty substantive, right, Like, he's back in area. It's not one hundred eighty pages of fluff. No, and just whining. He's got stuff to back up all his allegations. Yeah.

And on that note, his attorney, Brian Friedman, also made an announcement that they are going to create a website and they are just going to release everything. Oh yeah, raw footage, transparency, messages, all of it.

Yeah, release the files.

Released the dragon.

Yes, it's the cracking, but.

Okay, oh the crack that's right, Release the krackt that's Okay, that's right, all right, So she wants these seventeen protections put in place. We've talked about that before in the first podcast she returned. She refuses to return to work unless they agree to these seventeen things. Also, I think it's very important to note because this obviously is not in her complaint, but those seventeen protections that she wants in place. She sends them to Wayfairer and Sony. They try to negotiate them. They're like, hey, you know these allegations of harassment and not feeling comfortable and no intimacy coordinator and nudity.

Almost like this appears to be in admission of guilt. We're not going.

To We're not going to sign it as is. They try, they try to alter it to make it more reflective.

Of maybe like going forward. Right.

She refuses to sign it her attorney. They have the communications in here. The attorney writes back and basically says these are non negotiable. She will not return and finish this movie unless you sign it.

As she was holding the project hostage.

Yeah, so they what are they going to do. They've got millions of dollars invested in this, They've been on strike for months. These people haven't been working, right. They finally get to go back to work, and they cannot finish this movie unless they.

Sign question how much filming was done after the strikes, I would say they.

Only got about half half of the movie done.

Oh so you think it was like kind of in the middle.

I believe so.

Okay.

So one of the conditions was, and we've talked about this before, was the all hands in meeting that they had to have. That's what they had at Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds's apartment and she invited everybody over. And the way that his complaint makes it sounds is like everybody comes with their their script binders because they're all excited to talk about the movie, and then you know how they're going to finish the movie, and they get blindsided at this meeting at her house where she has another list of grievances. There's like thirty of them, and she reads them aloud, and I think everyone's sitting there like.

She didn't get the reaction she wanted from them. Whatever that was, I don't know. I thought She's like, oh, okay, then I'm going to have to she.

Reads them aloud. Apparently Ryan Reynolds attacks Justin Baldoni and he berates him. It's chaotic. I don't know. They claim that a Sony representative that was there said they've never seen anyone go off on somebody like that.

Before, and they were between Ryan and Justin.

Yes, and they regret not.

I will man put that on a website.

Right, So, anyway, if this continues to go further, obviously we're going to get into discovery, We're going to get into witnesses, We're going to get into people testifying.

Yeah, this is I hope it goes to trial. You want it to go trast This is a want to put people, you know, put her on the stand, you know. Yeah, she friends with the Amber heard by any chance? Did they have any relationship?

I don't know.

Seems like they would get along.

So this meeting takes place on January fourth. They finished the movie starting January fifth, I think January fifth to February something, they finished the movie. She claims in her complaint that there were no further issues in any of this. So then we go into editing. Right, we finished that, We've got all the raw footage, we have to edit it. She starts reaching out to Justin. She wants to help edit. She wants two days in the editing bay again.

Let's again. She wasn't hired to be an editor.

She's not an editor. That's not within her scope of employment. I think Sony is like, you know, walking on eggshells around her, like, oh, let her go in. She ends up taking over the editing and cutting her own version of the movie. There are two versions of this movie.

I wanted is cash my check and gone home. I'd be like, you edited, I'm done.

Well, I think you can tell this man is broken at this point.

You know I'm talking no no, no, no no no. I'm talking like if I was Blake Lively. Oh, I'd like cash my check and I'm done.

Yeah, let me just I just want to read you this text. This is in June, right before they like the movie is going to be released in August. And he texts someone. I think it's a producer somebody, and he says, this is his text. She's kicked me out officially from the film. Now she's finishing it all. I can't be involved music, sound, VFX everything. I'll make it through somehow. I just need to feel.

It all this is from to who.

I don't I think it's to an editor.

Okay, but is it kind of paste it in there to show that, yeah, how he was feeling.

That's how he felt at that time. He's just basically saying, I've lost this movie. Like she's completely taken over. She's edited her own version. I'm not even allowed in the editing bay anymore. Or she's cut her own like she's cut her version and he has his version. So there's two competing versions. Yeah, then I know they do the test. I think we talked about this before where they do the focus group and they test like which one.

Does better, which one did better?

His did better.

But then, of course because she.

Wanted her version used, where she refused to promote the movie unless her version was used, there.

Is and there's text or something to show that.

Yeah, then there is.

Man Jesus gets worse and worse.

Then there's some communications between him and some editors are producers where they've heard through the grapevine that Sony is trying to incorporate his version back into her version.

Well, probably because the focus groups told them to do.

That, right anyway, we get to also, I have to also add because I think this is important. She fires editors and hires Ryan Reynolds editors, and she fires.

The composer who are the editor she filed fired fired.

I don't know. It didn't get me.

I mean, like it was the ones that were originally hired for the movie. Yes, how can she fire them? She's not even paying them.

I don't know. I don't know. She gets rid of the composer that they've hired and she uses Ryan Reynolds composer. I think the problem is Sony, who's distributing this movie, is walking on eggshells with her too. Yeah, and so they're just kind of like, hey, just let her do whatever she wants. Let's just keep her happy. She won't promote the movie unless.

And then you wonder, and I don't know if you have the answer, is Ryan or Reynolds like affiliate with Sony where maybe Sony's thinking, like we got these other deals with Ryan, like we don't want to ruin this, I you know what I mean, Like, I know he was considered when they thought, hey, let's.

Just do whatever, right, So this movie is now ready to premiere. In August of twenty twenty four, there is a movie premiere which is you know you've been to a movie premiere before.

I know I haven't. I have go to see him on the first day.

They're really there's red carpet, the whole thing.

Wait, weren't you supposed to go to this premiere? You were invited to the premiere?

No, I don't think I was invited to. Yes, I know Colleen Hoover. I've been friendly with Colleen Hoover for years and years. We were on Watch What Happens Live together. I like and Brandon, the guy that plays Alice, was on Watch What Happens Live. He was the bartender. I had no idea any of this was going on. This was a missed operation. I had no idea at.

All any of this tension was going on.

So I I just you know, I was always a big fan. I'm still a big fan of Colleen Hoover.

I do know's nothing to do with the quality of writing.

She has deactivated her Instagram anymore. I don't know. I mean, I would say it. It probably has to do with everything that's going on with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. I can only imagine the fans probably attacking her on her Instagram because she did come out right from the get go and supported Blake. Probably not the smartest thing to.

Do too quick, I think. But also yeah, I feel for her because I bet you as an author, that's that's her strength. And then she has Instagram to promote her book and she probably got a lot of praise. Books got a lot of praise, and she didn't sign up for like people attacking her for this actor that didn't like this actor, Like she's really got nothing to do with that.

No, I think that.

Which is also why she should have not said anything. Probably it doesn't I'm not faulting her for saying anything. I'm just saying I don't think she should have right.

So we get to the premiere of this movie in August of twenty twenty four. Initially, Blake Lively says, Justin Baldoni can't be there at all, period. He's not allowed. It's not allowed to go. Of course, not can't be there.

He's a lead star and he ran the whole movie and directed it and everything. I mean, he should be there. They have to ry Reynolds there.

I don't even if he was there, they have to negotiate to allow him to be at the premiere and during the negotiations it is so they put into place that he is allowed to go, but he has to be in a separate theater.

That's not going.

Then he's in a separate theater.

Do you have a different red carpet?

No, but he cannot be on the risk the red carpet the same time as her. He has to be in a different holding area like him and his friends. And all the wayfair people are held in like this basement area. They took photos of it. There's there's drinks, like drinks all around them. It's just like a you know, some basement.

Area where she can't be okay with all, She's got to be embarrassed at all. This is surfacing, I.

Don't know, but we can we can throw some of the images up there of him with his family and his friends being held in like this basement area. Because he's not allowed to be on the red carpet the same time as her. He has to be he has to premiere the movie for the first time. This first time he gets to see.

It, well, see it on a big screen, right, Well, no.

See it. He doesn't know what the cut is. Oh, this is the first time he gets to see it. Oh wow, he's not allowed to go to the after party. He has to finance his own after party for his family and friends. He can't go to the other the other party that he paid for because this is wayfairer that pays for all of this stuff.

Dude, why didn't he just dumper at this point the movie's already done?

Well, what do you mean dump her? How's he gonna What does that mean?

Make her not allowed to govern? The premiere?

He has power?

Why don't know? Does he not have any power? In the beginning? I understudies trying to make sure the movie gets done, and she's smiling. But now it's done.

So because I think.

He's probably know why because he's probably a nice guy. I think he probably is one to not have confrontation and want to keep peace and just get the movie out there, right, So it's a little bit showing it his character.

Okay. Also, I just want to this is important too, because I think this goes to the heart of who he is. The cast ends up on following him on Instagram. I think that was all basically had to be done with the thing. I think that had to do with Blake or Ryan or whatever, just setting up that he wasn't a good guy and that they shouldn't have anything to do with him. But I do want to read this text that he included in his complaint. This is a text from the girl named Isabella Ferrer who played the young Oh yes, okay, okay, she played young Lily.

Okay, okay.

She sends this to Justin Baldoni after finished filming.

Okay, okay, go ahead and read it.

Hey just got my film developed from when we were shooting, So here's the sweet pick. I also have to say thank you so so much for an incredible experience on my first film. I still can't shake the feeling of it all because it truly was life changing for me. You are such a wonderful, smart and sincere director, and you created such a comfortable, safe space for me to feel like I could fully step into this role. I couldn't have asked for a more welcoming environment. It will stay with me the rest of my life. See you soon, whether in the fall or later, and I hope you're doing well, and I'll do.

You want my thoughts on that. It certainly is not harmful, but she's inexperienced as her first movie. Of course she's going to kiss up to the boss and say it was awesome. I know, but I'm just say she certainly didn't make complaints either. It helps him, no.

But I'm saying this is how she legitimately felt after she filmed her movie with Justin BELLDONI then she later follows h I'm saying she to me she was coerced because if you see her walk on the Red carpet, she comes on the red carpet with Blake Lively, she was styled by Blake, she wore a dress that Blake told her to wear. She wore Blake's shoes. I think Blake.

Okay, So here we are, she's besties with Blake, are wanting to be right, starstruck with her opportunity to be in a movie with some A listers, right, And then you'd think she would have picked up on some vibes of the supposed sexual harassment or whatever or professionalism with Belt with Justin. But she didn't. She didn't, So whether she's kissing him or not, had she probably didn't hear anything from Blake about any problems.

No, because I would assume that if she was aware of that or she thought those things were actually going on, or she thought.

Right she had some wind of anything that she wouldn't have sent it. If she's as close to Blake as she was in filming, she probably would have had wind of something right.

So to me, that text is very telling. I thought it was.

Did she changed her to now?

I don't think anyone knows what to say all these acts. I think everyone came out and supported Blake in the beginning, and now I think they're all radio silence.

Was Blake lightly really that big of a star? I don't even remember what's she been in. I don't even know what she's been in.

Yeah, I would say so she was in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Yeah, that's in my cue. I haven't seen it yet.

All right, let's go into the promotion of this movie. The promotion of this movie ends up being disastrous for her because she promotes the movie in a way where they don't talk about the domestic violence. They promote it in a way where it's a flowery, fun, grab your girlfriend's in a cocktail, go see this movie. She also promotes her hair care line, and she promotes her booze business, so she has an alcohol brand called Betty Booze, and she has a hair care line called Blake briens Don.

Like, if she'd go on a talk show to promote the movie, she'd also bring up those things.

Yeah. I think her promotion just was basically around this flowery, floral type of thing, very frothy, superficial. Go with your girlfriends, and by the way, try my hair care line, and also I have this booze company. And I think with the with the premiere, there was alcohol and all these things, and I think people did not like it because according to the statistics, fifty five percent of domestic violence has to do with alcohol. So it wasn't People were not making the connection and they were not receiving it. Well, they were like, wait, we thought this was about domestic violence, it was about survivors.

It was when you went and saw the movie, was it about domestic violence and survivors? Did you get that message as you did in the book?

Yeah?

I did you have the same message as you did in the book.

Yeah.

Okay, But she's out promoting it like it's just a light popcorn movie, right, and she.

Got massive backlash from social media because of that.

So you mean that like people saw the movie or knew the book, and then see the way she's painting the picture of this movie. And they didn't like that because right now, no one knows during the promotion of this movie, no one really knows all this that we're talking about, right, It hasn't really surfaced publicly yet.

Oh, you mean about the rift between the two. I know. This is when people start speculating because people notice that he's not on the red pat That's what.

I'm saying is they're making the independent conclusion that the way you're talking about the movie and the way the book reads and the movie shows is not how you're portraying. Right.

Oh, she also removed him from all the marketing material for why wouldn't. If you look at the poster, the movie poster, it's just her. He's nowhere on it. She just writes them out completely. He's in a basement.

Well, the title now seems very fitting. It ends with us. The name the titles us. It's over.

It is over. Yeah, So she's promoting this movie. She's getting major backlash. This is where the pr people come in, and this is where she accuses him of a smear campaign. And you know, here's my thoughts on all these.

Wait, was he running around promoting the movie? Was he doing talk shows and stuff like that?

He was promoting the movie, but he was promoting it differently.

But he was promoting. She allowed him to go promote the movie.

He did his own thing. He was not allowed to promote with her. He so he just pivoted and did his own thing.

Okay, So apparently.

Sony, She and Sony came up with this marketing promotional plan which had to do with this whole flowery type of you know, grab your way.

Why would she do that? Why do you think she would do it? Want to paint it that way? She hadn't read the book and she doesn't.

I think it was just a big miss step.

I think she But why do you think was she trying to change the image of the movie. Was she just playing stupid and she probably just doesn't know the message?

Well, I think she didn't read the book. I think she didn't meet with the No More group that he justin. Baldoni offered for her to meet with this domestic violence organization. She didn't want to meet with them. I think she focused on this flowery image of it because she thought that was the right thing to do.

I mean, okay, okay, but here's she was a little far removed from from being a part of this whole group and trying to make this movie and promote it, and so then she deviated and did her own thing, deviated, did.

Her own thing, and it didn't go well. And he when he did it.

Do you see any of the promos, because I know you read the book on your own long ago, and you were excited for the movie to come out, and you were very supportive of calling me over having her an awesome book turned into a movie, and then you saw the movie, And then did you see her promos or anything?

I did. I saw hercles, and I saw I saw where people were saying, this is tone death.

And did you agree with it?

I did, okay, And I know that his way of promoting the movie, because he had to promote on his own. He's just off on his own doing interviews. He's not with her with the project still, it's Blake and the cast and it's him on his own.

And this guy got I know you can't a hostile take away.

I know you can't help the fool. Sorry for this man, but he's when he's talking about the movie. He's talking about victims and about bringing it to light and about how hopefully it helps people and people can watch the movie and maybe feel empowered to leave a situation or good man. Yeah, So she does not like that because there are two different promotional avenues going on and people are she's getting major backlash and people are thinking what he's doing and saying the right thing. So I think she's living.

Oh yeah, lived, You're right. That was the final nail on the coffin where she's like, he was not supposed to be getting any praise else. Let me tell you, he's not even in the promo shots.

I read this in the complaint and I believe it, even though there isn't any correspondence back this up. But I do believe it Justin Baldoni in his complaint, and I haven't heard anybody else talk about this. I don't know if anybody else picked up on this, But during that promotional tour where she was getting major backlash from social media, she and Ryan Reynolds, through their agent, reached out to Justin Baldoni and Wayfairer and demanded that they write a public apology, and they drafted the public apology and told them you have to issue this and he.

Apologized for what for the marketing? Oh, like, I'm sorry for talking about domestic abuse and he is a popcorn movie. No.

She wanted them to take to Fall on the Sword and say it was our error in judgment. You know, we shouldn't have marketed the movie like this. And he refused. Yeah, he refused, wayfairer.

He drew the line. He was like, I'm done. I'm not.

So he refuses, and apparently their their response was, now the gloves are off. Yeah, now the gloves are off. And then they sue him in December. So this was August. This is the August time frame when this movie premieres.

And they're doing only a month later they see them, No.

This is August. They sue him in December.

Oh decent, I thinky, said Seppewer. So yeah, not long four months.

No, And then this is where all the PR people come into play. Blake Lively got a hold of those personal text messages between Justin Baldoni and his PR people, and give me a break. Subpoena, Shippina, there's no subpoena. There's not a subpoena. This is PR people confiscating phones and then giving these private text messages between Justin Baldoni and his PR people to Blake Lively's team. Yeah, and then they sue him saying sexual harassment and a smear campaign. And I want to talk about the PR thing. First of all, this is this is Hollywood, and these are a less actors, and people hire crisis management teams, and everybody has a publicist. You're trying to spin your client's story. They're trying to spin their client story. They're trying to get good, you know, good stories out there about Blake. He's trying to get good stories out there about him. He doesn't want this sexual harassment stuff to come up that she's accusing him of. Of course, he hired a crisis management team. He's been accused of things, He's been accused of being as.

Sexual Probas didn't hire a team to bash her. He hired a team to try to control the situation.

That's the way it was to me. There is a text that that she uses in her complaint where his PR girl Jen Abels, says something to the effect of he wants us to be able to bury her something like that. And the new and the whole New York Times article goes with that text. But if you read multitudes of tech that he has with his PR team, he says repeatedly, don't do that. Is that a bad article that we did. Don't put bad stuff out like He makes it clearer that he doesn't want it to be a bashing session. He's just trying to protect.

Oh, yeah, that's exactly what I said. He did.

Yeah, I know he's trying.

To put that he's a good dude.

That's the way it looks to me, is he is trying to do nothing more than protect his own image, his own movie, his reputation, his investment because there was a second book, and how is the second book going to get made? I heard and I asked people that would know if he purchased the rights to the second book, and they say, yeah, sure he did.

Yeah. I think that's given right.

So now, how does this man make this movie?

He may not?

How can he?

He may not. He's going to focus on his former million dollar all the suit.

He can't make this movie. And I think that's that's one of the reasons why you probably ask for four hundred million, because that goes to show actual No. Yeah, damages.

Well, it sucks because although the money is good, he really wants to make the movie.

Oh no, he wants to make the movie.

Agree, But we'd have to make ten million dollars with the movie than one hundred million dollars in court.

I agree on.

But now with Blake Levely, screw her seriously. I wouldn't work with her. Why would you work? Why would anyone want to work with her? Now? She's litigious, she's dangerous.

Yeah, oh no, I don't. I don't disagree with that at all.

We need to get Justin on here. You want to get Justin ask him what the heck is going on? Or we going to get Blake on here? That'd be better. Oh yeah, yeah, I'm sure Blake and Ryan Reynolds are a lot listeners right now going We needed to clear those up, right.

I'm sure after Blake listens to this episode, she's gonna definitely want to come on this podcast. Let's just go in a little bit into some things that are in the news. First of all, the whole Deadpool thing, where people are picking up on the fact that one of the characters nice Pool, is making fun of Justin Baldoni. Ryan Reynolds plays problem Deadpool, but he also has that alter ego character nice Pool, who there's all these you know, similarities in his speech that have to do with Justin Baldoni, Like he wears the man bun. He talks about how he's a feminist, he talks about how yeah, and you said he is, I'm sorry he is. He's a good looking guy, manun. He pulls it off. You gotta google some images. He pulls it off.

Well, well, it's not like I'm gonna be able to figure out if he's good looking.

Right, all right, so for it. Baldoni's attorney sends a you know, a preservation of evidence letter to the movie studio to Marvel over the nice Pool character. So Baldoni's attorney believes that Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds was flagrantly mocking Baldoni in a sequence in Marvel's Deadpool and Wolverine. The sequence features Reynold's playing nice Pool, an oafish alternate version of the hero Deadpool, saying such lines as where in God's name is the intimacy Coordinator and complimenting Ladypool for snapping back into shape after giving birth. When Deadpool points sell Nice Pool's misogyny in the scene, the latter replies, it's okay, I identify as a feminist. During the development, production, and marketing of It Ends with Us, Baldoni often touted his credentials as a feminist and an ally to women. He also does a podcast that had to do with like toxic masculinity and you know, things like that. So the attorney sending the preservation of evidence letter, what does that suggest to you? What is what is that for? What is the intent?

Well, because the're afraid they're going to destroy it and then they want to use it against him.

Right, So I think at some point there might be some lawsuit against Marble as well. I don't know. Yeah, but I'm sure Marvel Studios is like, are you kidding me? Like, we don't want to be involved in this, but anyway, So there's a preservation of evidence letter which basically says anything has to do with the character of Nice School.

Yeah, but I don't know how involved they would be other than just being a participant of providing evidence. Yeah, I mean, were they going to assume Marble saying you made fun of just involving a man? That seems like a stretch. Right, But yeah, you're right, it doesn't look good for well, it doesn't if I'm involved in some personal issue with someone and then they send a letter to my boss saying preserving evidence. Yeah, that's not a good look for me. So that's essentially what they did.

Also, I think it's important to get into this rooftop scene so that we can then go into this six and a half minute voice memo from Justin Baldoni to Blake Lively that was just released today, so we get to discuss that.

Okay, what is the rooftop scene and.

The rooftop scene in the book, this is a pivotal scene because this is where the main character, Lily meets Ryle for the first time. Now, I think this is a very important scene because we're talking about domestic violence, and I think Colleen Hoover does an amazing job of introducing Ryle to us as a doctor and as someone that's very passionate. When she first meets him on this rooftop, he had just been in a surgery and he had lost I think a child had died, and he was reeling and he was emotional and he was upset, and you immediately are attracted to him as a good guy. He also shows a little bit of a violent side where he kicks a chair, and I think this is all foreshadowing as to who he is as a complex character later in the book, when we learn more about him and his background. Anyway, I would say a lot of people have said this is an iconic scene, a pivotal scene.

I would agree with that as far as the storyline exactly so.

In Baldoni's complaint, he says that Blake Lively reaches out to him and says, hey, can I take a pass at writing this scene? Obviously there's a script and the scene's already been written. She wants to write the scene. Again, Let's go back to the fact that as far as an actress, she's her scope of her employment is actress. And again, as far as he alleges, she hasn't read the book. According to his complaint, there's some time type of meeting at her New York penthouse and Taylor and Ryan are both there, and Blake has rewritten this scene, and according to Justin Baldoni, they're both raving. And when I say both, I mean Ryan and Taylor are raving about how amazing the scene is. That she has written, so Justin Baldoni leaves, and apparently he says to her at some point in a text or I'm not sure what he thanks her for her passion, meaning great job putting a lot of work into it, but I don't know, we'll probably I think he says, I was.

Trying to recognize her going out above and beyond, so to speak, in writing and contributing, when really he didn't want to hear it, right.

And you know, I think he also knows he's walking on eggshells with her, right, So he's trying to say he's trying to give her compliments without letting her completely take over. So I think he probably thought that was a great way to be like, you know what, I appreciate the passion that you put into that. And then I think.

Choice of words, well, passion, Yeah, I mean that's neither here nor there, right, And.

Then he says something to the effect of, you know, most likely the scene will be what was already written, and then some of the things, and like, I'm sure he's trying to include some of the things.

Yeah.

Anyway, apparently, according to him, she goes silent for days. He doesn't hear from her, then I guess he gets a text. This is the Khalisi text, right, and I'll read a little bit more of the text. So she says, they asked what you thought specifically after and they means Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift, who she's referring to. They checked in so many times. I told them that you laughed a bunch and said it's probably a blend, but you appreciate my passion so much, which of course did not feel great for me or them to have my passion be praised instead of any specific contribution, or even just that you don't like the pages, which was fine also, So she's basically saying, hey, they keep checking in. They want to know your thoughts. They thought it was amazing. Why are you not thinking it's amazing too? Then there's a lot more that has to do with how amazing and how great her two dragons are. Then the very end of this text is the Kalisi text, where she basically makes reference to Game of Thrones where she's Kalisi and they're her two dragons. And to me, I take that as kind of a veiled threat, like, not only am I blake Lively, but I just want to warn you that I have two of the most powerful people in the world as my friends, and you should probably go along that. We all think this rooftop scene is amazing anyway, So this voice memo comes into play because this is what I think happened. I think he starts thinking about how he praised her passion. But now she's ticked off and she's sent him this time, and she doesn't like what he said, and she doesn't want to be praised for her passion. She wants to be praised.

For her Shane Reynolds, And it's like, what do you think about this?

Oh, I'm sure, And so everybody's probably.

He wrote it.

He was insulted, right, So I'm sure everyone around her is like, don't you know he doesn't know what he's talking about and you know, praising her. So I'm sure Justin Baldoni is laying in bed with his mind reeling, thinking about how he messed up because he praised her for this passion she put into rewriting and guess second guessing everything. He's thinking, Great, now she's mad. Ryan Reynolds is mad, Taylor Swift is mad. I'm screwed, right, So he sends her this sixth minute, thirty second two in the morning voice memo at two o'clock in the morning, which Shane and I both listen to. My takeaway from this voice memo and you can tell me yours was this man was reeling, his mind was going crazy, and he was trying to do everything possible to get her back into his good graces.

I mean, how many times do you he he? I agreed that he was, and I think his voicemail was stupid. I know it looked he sounded weak. He sounded like, Okay, I'm sorry, I love you, You're so great, and like that was kind of the tone. I felt bad for him, but I was like, dude, you're not going to win anyone over.

Like that, so in your mind, well to me, he apologized, I be and sweet. It should have been. First of all, as a as a woman with three children, and Blake Lively has four kids, I don't want a seven minute voice memo. I'm not going to listen to it.

That was a high person. I wouldn't want a seven minute voice memo that is entirely too long.

If you want to apologize.

It was harsh for me to finish that.

I know it was a lot. It was a lot of repetition. It was a lot of stammering, stammering. It was a lot of I'm sorry, I shouldn't it wasn't he saying things like basically like you're so awesome him. Yeah, and I'm working with Blake Lively to Ryan Ryan, say hi to Ryan.

I can't believe I because he wasn't playing like Taylor Swift in the background, or.

I get to I get to I get to be with Blake Lively every day.

I mean, it was a lot.

It was too much.

Yeah, he was saying that. That was pathetic, that was serious. Okay.

But the question is, because clearly it was his side that released his voice. It wasn't her.

He's releasing it, So.

What is his intent?

I don't know. I don't know if that did him any favorites. I don't think it did anything bad for him. It is to me it made him look weak. And it may be and it's not like, oh my gosh, he apologized, therefore she should he's a great guy. No, I don't know. You could have been apologizing because because I mean, I think it's I think his voicemail had good intentions. He was trying to reel her in. He was trying to, you know, appease her. He was trying to make her feel better so they could get back to filming or whatever it was. But I think it was not It was disingenuous because he was just saying what he thinks he needed to say.

You know what I mean, Yeah, but what he needed to say.

It was actually his reasoning was not wrong. His reasoning was valid, legitimate and real, right, and it had good intentions. Okay, but it just sound as stupid.

There's also a section in this long voice memo where he makes reference to I'm so sorry that you've gone through this with other directors or whatever, and a lot of people I've seen people talking about this online and they didn't know what he was referring to, and they didn't understand the context at this point.

I might know, but I interpreted that as he was just like he heard stories directly from Blake. So he's like, oh, yeah, that's terrible. I'm not like that, right. I don't know if there was any history.

Well there is, because I look back at the complaint because I remember reading something like that, and I did. I did find it in the complaint and the context is, he states, early in the pre production stage, Lively sent Baldoni a long text describing how directors never permitted her to write scenes for the movies that she acted in, nor gave her writing credits, even making her hand scribble her suggestions for lines so that they could not be traced back to her. Lively boasted that she had even written for her husband's movies. So I think she sent these long texts as a manipulation tactic of like, hey, I know what I'm doing. I've written scenes, I've rewritten things. I've just never been given credit before, kind of a woe is me type of feel badly for me. And then that's what he does in that voice memo. He's like, hey, I am so sorry that you were treated like that.

Ask them I'm not like that. And if you remember, he's he's not like that. Now, let's go finish the movie right now, get out of the editing.

Okay. Anyways, So that is our take on the on the six and a half minute.

I always I recommend that anyone listening to this podcast do not listen to the seven minutes or you will want it back.

It's a lot, it's a lot of ramd you feel for him too. I think the intent of them releasing it was so that you could hear in his voice that he is literally trying to just get along with it.

He was saying what she wanted to hear because he just wanted to move on, and that.

He's the nice guy in this. He's telling her she's amazing. He's saying he loves Ryan. He's bowing down.

I know that, I'm sorry. You know you want to crap out O Ryan. And he's never going to listen to Taylor Swifts song again. You know that, right either.

So Anyway, originally the first pre trial conference was scheduled for February twelve. We do know now that it's been moved up. It is actually next week, and the judge told both lawyers on each side to be prepared to address the complaints about all the pre trial publicity. And we touched on this a little bit before that was the letter that Blake Lively's team sent to the judge directly saying, Hey, you know, Brian Friedman's playing out this lawsuit in the public by releasing.

All this footage. Please disregard the fact that I went to the New York Times, right, and look at this attorney was responding to all these outlandish allegations I write against.

And I'm sure it also has to do with the fact that he also did say, Hey, we're just gonna We're just going to make a website and we're just going to put everything on this website. We're going to put the raw footage on there, all the text, messages, everything.

You should probably put it on Patreon. You can probably make a few bucks, or put it on YouTube. It'll be millions of viewers and then a bunch of comments.

And then so the pre trial conferences next week where we will figure out or at least the judge will make some type of decision on how this is going to play out in the MEETA because both sides have been using publicity.

Get their in California is in New York.

So the trial date is scheduled for March ninth of twenty twenty six, which is basically.

Two seconds that is googled it. I put Ryan Reynolds's Lively trial date March nine came up March ninth.

Six, Okay, So anyway, that's when the trial date is. We'll see what happens until then clearly there will be a lot more things that come out. We'll see how this plays out in the media. We'll see what the judge says regarding whether they're allowed to continue to release raw footage and release all these text messages and voice memos and all these things, and.

We will keep you informed on that, hopefully, hopefully get settled before the next Taylor Swift tour date. So very important, yes,

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