Blake Lively almost quit 'It Ends With Us' amid feud with Justin Baldoni on set
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Weeks after Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s alleged feud came to the fore, insiders who worked on ‘It Ends With Us’ are divulging that at one point the mother-of-four considered "scrapping" the project.
During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, three insiders, who worked on the set of the film and were hired by Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios, dished out the creative differences that created a drift between the leading stars.
The insiders said that the studio, which already faced major hurdles in the past including the SAG-AFTRA strike, and Canadian wildfires among others, faced an even more distressing situation when Lively and Baldoni butted heads over creative differences.
Insiders claimed Blake Lively once thought of quitting
Speaking to Rolling Stone, one of the insiders shared, “Everyone knew that they didn’t like each other," per Perez Hilton.
However, they said that while the feud part is true, the drama might have been blown out of proportion.
“I think some of the rumors online seem a little strong. I don’t think they hate each other,” said one of the sources.
They, however, clarified, “But I don’t think they would work together again. Their styles are way too different.”
“Blake is very business-minded and very practical,” they explained, before adding, “Justin … is so on the other side of why he makes art that they were never going to be friends.”
Another crew member too agreed and said it was the creative differences that caused the majority of troubles, as their approach toward work was completely different.
“There were such conflicting ideas of how to make the movie, and since Blake was bankrolling it, Justin couldn’t really put his foot down,” said one of the sources.
The tipster continued, “But also he didn’t really have a strong opinion. He’s very good at directing actors and he’s good at acting, he’s an actor’s director, but as far as the direction of the entire picture goes, I don’t think it was his sort of film.”
Differences in opinion happened regarding costumes and color palette
The insiders said that two major points of contention were the costumes and color palettes.
They dished that Lively was enthusiastic about Lily Bloom’s costumes and set designs.
However, that clashed with the ideas of the costume department who already started with their work.
“We went dark because of picket lines and [in that time] the costume department was running around with their heads cut off trying to figure out how they could change everything to make sure Blake was happy. There were a lot of returns, exchanges, and repurchasing of an entire wardrobe,” shared the source.
The same happened with the flower shop design which was initially “almost gothic” with rich and somber tones.
However, the ‘Gossip Girl’ alum reportedly lost interest in the project over time after she faced backlash over her costume and set designs that aligned with her visions. She was reportedly heartbroken when photos of her on set were leaked and fans criticized the aging up of the characters based on Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name.
The insiders further noted that she also had scheduling conflicts which impacted the film. Meanwhile, she also lost interest in the project fore the online criticism she received for her outfits.
One of the sources recalled, “There was lots of talk about, if this wasn’t contractually obligated she probably would have just scrapped the whole thing. Justin was a little inexperienced with running a big crew and Blake was, at first, too domineering, because she was treating us like a bigger production than it was.”
“Then, after she stopped caring, she didn’t care about anything about the shoot … Normally that wouldn’t be that big of a deal, a lot of actors are like that, but she was so invested in the beginning and then the more she and Justin interacted, the less she cared about it,” added the source.
