Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni supposedly could not agree on many things while working on It Ends with Us. But the one thing they were on the same page about? Intimacy coordinators.
As you most likely know, the film is based on Colleen Hoover‘s book of the same name, and it’s all about a relationship between Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid that turns abusive. Given the sensitive topic the feuding co-stars are depicting on screen, the use of intimacy coordinators on set was super important for the safety and comfort of everyone — something both Blake and Justin preached during several separate interviews. For his part, the 40-year-old director told Harper’s Bazaar India last week that he and his team “knew from the very beginning that there was no way we could do this movie without intimacy coordinators” and stunt coordinators.
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They hired Lizzy Talbot and Chelsea Cary as their intimacy coordinators, and Lauren Shaw as the stunt coordinator. Justin said:
“It was so important to have them on set — not just so that we could all feel safe, but because they were also incredible collaborators with wonderful ideas that really elevated the film.”
The Jane the Virgin alum noted that the three women really helped him when the “tension” became too much during the filming process:
“When you shoot a film like this, as an actor, all this tension lives in your body. There were times when I had to literally leave the set for a second before the next setup to shake it out or release it as best as I could. Having them on set and always in my eye line was invaluable because at any point I could look to one of them for a thumbs up, or we’d work on another approach together. They were such an important and integral part of our process.”
Justin continued to praise the coordinator’s work at the premiere in New York City earlier this month. You know, the same premiere that helped kick-start those rumors of Blake and the cast FEUDING with the actor as they completely avoided him… allegedly because of his awful on-set behavior. More on that in a moment, though.
Justin told The Hollywood Reporter that he struggled to work on the scenes involving domestic violence:
“There were a lot of times where I would have to go privately into a room and just cry or shake it out and try to get him out of me and that energy out of me, because it’s too real. There are too many people that are the real-life Lily Blooms of the world that have to deal with that every single day, and I wanted it to be as real as possible and yet it was very hard to shoot those scenes.”
What helped him get through those dark scenes? Blake and the “incredible” female coordinators. Justin continued:
“Honestly, between those three women, they really were the ones choreographing and navigating all of those scenes because I needed to play Ryle. In those moments, to be perfectly frank, I really wasn’t the director; it was those women who were in charge. From the beginning I wanted all the intimate scenes to be from a female gaze and I never wanted my bias to potentially interject and go into the film. So I kind of stepped back and felt all the things and allowed myself to do the work and shook it off as best I could.”
Hmm…
As for Blake? The 36-year-old actress — who is also a producer on IEWU — also pointed out how “critical” it was to have intimacy coordinators involved on set. She told Digital Spy on Saturday:
“You coordinate stunts, you coordinate dancing. It is choreography. So to be able to say ‘This is what happens here, here and here’ in a stunt, and ‘This is what happens here, here and here’ in a dance, but ‘Now you guys just go put your bodies together and your mouths and whatever, and action and cut,’ that’s ridiculous. I think that being choreographed is critical for everyone’s safety.”
Unfortunately, it sounds like things still went way too far at times, even with intimacy and stunt coordinators present on set. Since the feud rumors between Justin and Blake started, we’ve heard a lot about his behavior during filming — and he allegedly was very different from the good guy persona fans have come to know and love from him! The filmmaker was allegedly “borderline abusive,” “unprofessional,” and “unapologetic.” A source even claimed Justin was “dismissive” to Blake’s “input” and only focused on “what he believed was the abusive male viewpoint” while working on the scenes of abuse.
That is a far cry from what Justin said about letting the women, including Blake, take the reins in those scenes. We mean, with the way he has talked about domestic abuse during the promo for the film, no one would have ever suspected this from him! Did he have a feeling these claims would come out eventually and tried to get ahead of the scandal as much as possible?
He also allegedly made Blake feel “uncomfortable” about her postpartum body, even reportedly going so far as to fat-shame her! The allegations only get worse from here. TMZ sources further claimed the Gossip Girl alum once felt Justin lingered too long with a kiss during filming.
Justin apparently couldn’t “shake” off his character all the time, either. At least not in enough time before he pushed some major boundaries — if the claims in the report are true. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Wonder if outlets highlighting the intimacy coordinators have anything to do with the crisis PR Justin supposedly hired!
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Cosmopolitan UK/extratv/YouTube]
