Justin Baldoni has hired crisis PR veteran Melissa Nathan amid the release of his new film It Ends With Us, Us Weekly has learned.
Nathan launched her firm, The Agency Group, earlier this summer after nearly a decade working for leading crisis strategist Matthew Hiltzik. She and her company specialize in communications, crisis, reputation management, personal publicity and digital team services across the entertainment industry.
The news comes amid online speculation of a rift between Baldoni and his It Ends With Us costar Blake Lively. In recent days, fans have pointed out that Baldoni has been removed from much of the movie’s promotion and was noticeably absent for cast photos during the New York City premiere on August 6. Some also noted that neither Lively, 36, nor the rest of the cast, follow Baldoni on social media, though he follows them.
Earlier this week, sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Baldoni, who also directed the film, and Lively, who serves as a producer, had a falling out in the post-production stage when two different cuts of the movie emerged. Lively reportedly commissioned a cut of the movie from Deadpool & Wolverine editor Shane Reid, although it’s unknown which edit made the final cut. Other outlets, meanwhile, have reported that Baldoni allegedly made Lively “uncomfortable” while on set.
Related: Everything Justin Baldoni Has Said About Working With ‘It Ends With Us’ Costar Blake Lively
It Ends With Us — an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name — follows florist Lily Bloom (played by Lively) as she enters into an abusive relationship with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni). Amid their tumultuous relationship, Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), reappears in her life. The novel spawned an It Starts With Us sequel in 2022 that takes place years after the OG book. (Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, secured the rights to the novel in 2019.)
While neither Baldoni nor Lively have spoken out about the feud rumors, Baldoni told Entertainment Tonight at the NYC premiere that he likely wouldn’t return to direct the sequel. “I think there are better people for that one,” he told the outlet before suggesting Lively should take the reins. “I think Blake Lively is ready to direct. That’s what I think.”
Baldoni has, however, also continued to gush over Lively while promoting the film. During a conversation with Entertainment Weekly earlier this month, he praised the Gossip Girl alum for being involved in “every aspect” of the movie “from scenes and dialogue until the end, until now.”
“She’s been involved in all of it, and she’s been a powerhouse of a creative and a wonderful collaborator,” he told the outlet. When it came time to shoot the more difficult scenes of abuse, Baldoni said Lively was a helpful guide when he found himself challenged with balancing his roles as actor and director.
“Blake was a wonderful partner in those situations,” he shared. “It was so difficult, but I think that I surround myself with people that I trust and with really talented creatives, and if there’s ever a time where I’m unable to see the forest for the trees, I’ll look to my partners, and I’ll ask them what they think.”
“I really trusted her,” Baldoni continued. “She’s got a great eye, and she was on the other end so it was very hard, and there was just a lot of trust. I had a lot of trust for the people around me, and they didn’t steer me wrong.”
Baldoni added that he relied on Lively — and the various other women working on the set — to ensure the film focused on the female perspective.
“To be very candid, in many of the situations I would give my vision and then I would step back and let the women actually run the set and the show,” Baldoni told THR in aSaturday, August 10, interview. “Blake was very involved as well and had a lot of ideas of how this should work. There were many times where I didn’t even say a word, where I was just watching and I was like, yes, that sounds great.”
Related: Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's Reported 'It Ends With Us' Drama Explained
He continued, “I was actually able to then go into Ryle because in those moments, it was the most complex for Ryle and the hardest for me as an actor. So they took a lot of weight off my shoulders, and also ensured that each of those scenes were handled with care and also did not have a male gaze but a female gaze because that was one of my early concerns when I was questioning if I could even direct this movie. I wanted to ensure that it kept and maintained the message of the book through a female perspective.”
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Lively, for her part, hinted there was at least one disagreement behind the scenes of It Ends With Us during an interview with Hits Radio UK when she claimed “they begged” her to take Lana Del Rey’s song “Cherry” out of the movie. (Lively did not identify the “they” in question.)
“I’m not supposed to be talking about this,” she confessed. “Because they felt like it was too charged and heavy, and things are still good with Ryle at that point, so you don’t want to feel that charge. And I was like, ‘The moment Atlas enters, things are charged and heavy.’ There’s conflict, there’s pain, there’s turmoil, there’s tension, because you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, my soulmate, the one that got away in my life, this person who’s haunting me in everything I do and everywhere I go is here now, and we still had that connection.’ And you can be deeply in love with this person, but this person comes in and your insides are gonna be a mess. So, that’s why.”
It Ends With Us is now in theaters.
