What the hell is going on with the ‘It Ends With Us’ press tour?
What the hell is going on with the ‘It Ends With Us’ press tour?
And more importantly, what does it say about us?
I first want to acknowledge that I can’t believe it took me this many years to start this Substack, and my first two posts are about Blake Lively (or as TikTok calls her, ‘Lady Antebellum’ (LOL 4 ever). To be fair, if you’ve been on social media at all in the past month, it’s been hard to escape her presence. First with the premiere of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’, then with ‘Blake Brown Beauty’ (still hate the name!), and now with the absolutely bonkers press tour for ‘It Ends With Us,’ based on the (actually so bad and not in a good way) book of the same name by Colleen Hoover.
Part of the reason I wrote my debut post on Blake Lively was because I’ve always been a little fascinated that her and husband Ryan Reynolds fly so under the radar when it comes to overexposure and backlash. See: JLo and Ben Affleck 1.0 and 2.0 as a prime example. These two have done some questionable things, including glorifying plantation weddings and celebrating the slave-marked Antebellum era, but we must have short attention spans because they seemed universally beloved, up until about a week ago.
Just before I wrote the post questioning what Blake Lively is really selling us, I started to notice Instagram comments and subreddits wondering where co-star and director Justin Baldoni was on the press tour. At the New York premiere, Blake, who also serves as producer, posed with the cast and Hoover, whereas Justin walked the carpet with his family, taking questions but not interacting with or taking photos with the cast; it seemed like they were promoting two very different interpretations of the movie.
Blake, holding court as Queen Bee and dressed in the most literal interpretation of florals ever (her character in the movie is named Lily Blossom Bloom and she runs a flower shop named Lily Bloom's because of course she does), is awkwardly flanked by co-stars Isabela Ferrer, Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate and author Colleen Hoover, as though they’re being held hostage in some mystery power struggle. That may be a leap, but the tone of the press tour has been… uncomfortable. Let’s be clear, this is a book centred around domestic violence. Surprised? That’s probably because you wouldn’t know it based on their press tour alone, which reads more like a rom-com with two cute dudes vying for the attention of a questionably dressed florist. Take out the domestic violence angle and this is very much a Hallmark movie sponsored by Carhartt. To her credit, Blake finally posted an Instagram story on domestic violence stats and a helpline today, likely as a PR offensive from the backlash of treating this like ‘Age of Adeline’ but with florals and bad clothes. I should also note that as of this writing, the most recent Instagram post she’s shared to her 45 million followers is a roundtable discussion with Ferrer, Slate, and Hoover, titled ‘Girl Talk,’ where they discuss hard-hitting questions like what they would be doing if they had a different profession, or how compatible their zodiac signs are. This would work well if she was promoting ‘Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 3,’ which I would actually be very down with, but is far less effective when promoting a movie about, you know, abuse.
In contrast, Justin Baldoni has been promoting the movie closer to the actual source material, a film centred around the complicated nature of domestic violence. That it can take on many shapes and forms, and to hopefully depict a story in which victims watching the film may feel empowered to take steps towards safety.
I’ve heard more from Blake around the styling of this film and her husband’s sketchy contributions (we’ll get to that), than I have about the horrors of domestic violence. Instead, it’s largely tip-toed around, as if it’s more of a pesky plot point they’re trying to bury to sell this as a glamorous movie-star led sweep-you-off-your-feet romance. On the styling, Lively is constantly referring to herself on social media as a ‘crown straightener;’ someone who metaphorically straightens other people’s crowns before tending to her own. You often see her fussing with cast mate’s jewellery, putting a stray hair back into place, or boasting about finding the exact right floral motif to style them in; like the it girl herself is taking in these pitiful fashion victims. It’s all rather, well, embarrassing. And this is just my hot take, but the affection doesn’t seem genuine in either direction. Let’s not forget the power Blake Lively has; it’s very easy to write her off as a B-list actress who likes to bake and dote on her children and husband. But c’mon guys, we know better than that. She’s one-half of Hollywood’s current power couple, so much so that Vogue wrote an entire article devoted to convincing us she’s one of the last few remaining movie stars, comparing her to the likes of Grace Kelly and Katherine Hepburn (LOL). In a power struggle, especially for up and coming actors, you might be compelled to hitch your wagon to industry’s literal golden girl, because the alternative might feel scary. Especially when she clothes you and ‘fixes your crown.’ Which if this is the case, teeters on leveraging your power to keep people in line.
If there’s one thing Blake and Ryan do incredibly well, it’s employ very good PR and marketing people. It’s been fascinating to watch their carefully laid plans to roll out ‘It Ends With Us,’ as a vehicle to launch Blake into movie-star territory derail from behind the scenes drama. I’ve seen speculation suggesting this is all part of the plan to create hype, and no. Absolutely not. There’s no way they’d trade in their collective goodwill and professional reputations for a PR stunt. I avoided writing this article all week despite repeatedly being asked my opinion on it, mostly because frankly, its messy as hell. I’m clearly not a huge fan of Blake or Ryan (he’s too self deprecating and it bugs me okay!), and wanted to avoid writing a piece that would age poorly if it comes out that Justin is as problematic as their PR machine is telling us. That being said, from a culture perspective, they’re working overtime to convince us something very bad happened, in the most vague of terms, through historically celebrity friendly publications. So… let’s unpack what we know for sure.
As previously mentioned, Blake’s pushing this film hard, like it’s a love triangle with fabulous fashion rather than the actual domestic violence plot upon which it’s centred. Ironic that she wore an iconic glittery Versace gown to the premiere originally worn by Britney Spears, who has for many years detailed the abuse she has suffered from well, everyone. I think we can safely assume it’s because she wants to sell movie tickets, and whitewashing it to make it more palatable for the masses has been her playbook. Justin’s press has primarily focussed on the domestic violence angle, which lends credit to the theories speculating on creative differences between them.
Oh, you were confused Blake was so involved in the ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ press tour before it was confirmed she played Lady Deadpool? Equally confusing is how often she would bring up Ryan Reynolds in interviews, until she let it slip to E! News that he rewrote a key scene on the rooftop, which was a surprise to everyone including the screenwriter. And now the good people of Reddit are speculating that was done during the writers strike which is a big no-no.
Sources tell Page Six that Justin made Blake feel ‘uncomfortable,’ on set. There was some speculation that he made remarks about her postpartum body, but it’s all very vague. I want to leave space here to acknowledge that maybe he did create tension on set with Blake and the cast. It’s possible, we just don’t have any real details and the vagueness feels deliberate, particularly on a film about abuse.
The many, many pro Blake pieces in celebrity sanctioned ‘People’ magazine, citing anonymous sources that insist Baldoni is the problem, without any real intel.
TikTok and Reddit sleuths were very quick to notice that Baldoni follows the cast on Instagram, but most, including Blake and Hoover, have unfollowed him. Even more strange is Baldoni’s ‘The Man Enough’ podcast co-host Liz Plank has tagged Lively in photos promoting the film, but not Justin, nor has she addressed him at all (admittedly, this is super weird)!
The cast side-stepping questions around Baldoni like they’re fighting for their lives has been insane to watch. Like in this clip where Jenny Slate does everything except answer what it was like working with Baldoni. Whether this a result of him being a jerk on set, or more like mom and dad are fighting and you’re trying very hard to not piss off mom, is unclear.
When asked by Entertainment Tonight about directing the sequel ‘It Starts With Us’ (dear God please no), which Baldoni owns the rights to, he pointedly says “I think there are better people for that one. I think Blake Lively is ready to direct, that’s what I think.” Well, that certainly lends credibility to those creative control rumours.
The Hollywood Reporter cites multiple sources that state Blake Lively had her own cut of the film made by editor Shane Reid, who also served as editor on ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ and Blake’s directorial turn on Taylor Swift’s ‘I Bet You Think About Me’ music video. There’s also been speculation that Blake and Ryan planned to push Baldoni out if the film turned out to be a success, which with a $50 million opening weekend, second only to ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’, it is. And I only bring up Ryan in relation to Blake here because she did it first! In her own words, she works on everything he does, and he works on everything she does. Their successes are shared, and they always remind us they are best friends, true loves, and obsessed with each other (I don’t know a single happy couple in real life who acts this way, but okay)!
One of my favourite culture writers, Lainey Lui from Lainey Gossip, puts it best when she says ‘gossip is a buffet.’ That is to say, we rarely ever know what’s really happening, but rely on our perception to make sense of how we process gossip. Which, to me, adds a layer of intrigue that Baldoni is overwhelmingly ahead in the court of public opinion (open up any social media account comments and you’re hit over the head with this). Is it a crime that Blake is making this press tour an almost frothy Barbie 2.0? No. Is it confusing that pretty much the entire cast firmly seems to be Team Blake, without so much as acknowledging Justin, yet public favour seems very much in Justin’s camp? Yes, very much so! Almost always, and especially in a post ‘me too’ era, we band around women when they’ve been mistreated by bad men. Culture wise, I’m far more interested in why we collectively seem to be doing the opposite here. Did Blake and Ryan finally hit the overexposure tipping point and it was a perfect storm of backlash? Maybe this is part of it. A few years ago I interviewed sociologist Danielle Lindemann who wrote the book ‘True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us,’ and it changed the lens of how I viewed culture. I started to realize that how we process and receive culture is much more a reflection of us than what is actually happening. So, we may never know for sure what happened behind the scenes of ‘It Ends With Us,’ but we should examine our reaction to it and what that says about us (including yours truly).