Justin Baldoni is suing Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on the claim that the Hollywood power couple had plans to hijack his It Ends With Us film with false allegations of sexual assault.
A 179-page complaint detailed that the actor and his publicists were accusing the two of civil extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy. The suit seeked a minimum of $400 million in damages.
Highlights
- Justin Baldoni has just sued Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds for at least $400M.
- The lawsuit accused Lively and Reynolds of civil extortion and defamation, among others.
- Taylor Swift allegedly pressured Baldoni on rewrites of the film, getting him to agree to Lively's vision.
- Lively claimed Baldoni's team tried to ruin her reputation.
Justin Baldoni has sued Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds amidst their ongoing legal battle
Image credits: NBC / Getty
“At bottom, this is not a case about celebrities sniping at each other in the press,” the lawsuit read. “This is a case about two of the most powerful stars in the world deploying their enormous power to steal an entire film right out of the hands of its director and production studio.
“When Plaintiffs have their day in court, the jury will recognize that even the most powerful celebrity cannot bend the truth to her will.”
Baldoni additionally claimed both Taylor Swift and Reynolds had “pressured” him into accepting Lively’s rewrites of the film, despite the Con Man’s star having a “dramatically” different vision, including an “exceedingly mild resistance” to the actress’s reimagination of the film’s rooftop scene — a critical turning point for the two main characters.
Image credits: Ignat/Bauer-Griffin/Getty
This newest complaint is only a follow-up to the ongoing bitter legal battle between Lively and Baldoni, who starred opposite one another in the film adaption of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel.
Things first started heating up in late December when The New York Times reported that Gossip Girl actress allegedly filed a complaint against Baldoni, Heath and publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan, claiming that the group had worked together to orchestrate a clandestine media campaign, in order to “bury” her reputation.
"Even the most powerful celebrity cannot bend the truth to her will" read the statement
Image credits: vancityreynolds
A day later, Baldoni answered with a defamation lawsuit against the outlet as he accused the paper of working with Lively’s team and “cherry-picking” out-of-context text messages in order to destroy his image. His lawyer, Bryan Freedman, promised that this wasn’t the end.
And he kept true to that promise.
Image credits: Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/Getty
“This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media,” said Freedman in a statement.
It continued, “It is clear based on our own all out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret.”
Taylor Swift was also mentioned in the lawsuit
Image credits: vancityreynolds
Lively’s side of the story, however, is quite different.
Things began on December 31 when the actress alleged that she “and other cast and crew experienced invasive, unwelcome, unprofessional and sexually inappropriate behavior” by the 40-year-old and his company’s CEO/producer Jamey Heath.
E! reported that the statement said Lively had tried fixing matters after the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, trying to “address the hostile work environment that nearly derailed production of the film.”
Image credits: justinbaldoni
After a long discussion, it was agreed that both parties would follow the Protections for Return to Production in order to ensure the film was completed.
Following this latest lawsuit filed by Baldoni, his lawyers have demanded Disney and Marvel to retain any documents to what they see as an attempt to “mock, harass, ridicule, intimidate or bully” the actor in last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine.
Lively, Reynolds, and their legal team have yet to respond.
Comments were divided on which side of the story to support
