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According to Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively is guilty of one of the many things of which she accused him.
On those grounds, he wants the court to throw out her $161 million suit.
According to Baldoni, Lively allegedly improvised a kiss while filming — something that she’d asked him to stop doing.
It’s unclear how either side can prove whether this deleted scene was planned. However, Baldoni’s complaint makes it clear that he’s still fuming about Lively’s level of creative control.
Justin Baldoni is accusing Blake Lively of hypocrisy
According to Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively improvised kissing him during an It Ends With Us scene.
The scene, he says, did not make it into the theatrical cut of the film.
According to TMZ, Baldoni is claiming that Lively kissed him when the script did not call for it during a scene at the hospital.
(Lively and Baldoni co-starred in the film, with Baldoni also serving as director)
It’s unclear whether the footage of the cut scene can prove that it was improvised, but he wants the lawsuit dismissed.
Interestingly, Baldoni’s filing says that the worst part of this alleged improvised kiss is that Lively had rewritten this portion of the script.
(Remember, he has claimed that their only issue during production was creative differences)
Team Baldoni says that the alleged rewrite didn’t include a kiss, thus making it improvised.
The court docs specify that the scene was filmed after the January 2024 meeting over Lively’s sexual harassment allegations against him.
This, he claims, is why the alleged improvised kiss came as such a surprise.
How can either of them prove that something was unplanned?
To simplify, Justin Baldoni is claiming that the agreement with Blake Lively was that they would stick to the script from then on.
According to him, she broke that agreement.
This sounds complex.
For the court to review Baldoni’s claim, they would presumably need the script, this footage, and statements from witnesses describing this particular on-screen kiss.
Of course, Lively’s complaints about Baldoni go much deeper than the initial allegations of sexual harassment, as they detail a massive smear campaign against her.
TMZ notes that the documents show that Baldoni has a clear focus upon creative control.
He accuses Lively of having “exercised control at every turn” during filming of It Ends With Us.
Baldoni alleges that this extended to scheduling, scripts, editing, and more.
His motion to dismiss recently described Lively as a contractor and not an employee.
This filing also says that Lively was effectively a “boss” even though he was director and it was his production company behind the film. On those grounds, he says, she does not receive employee protections.
These filings are likely only a preview of the trial to come
As always, we do not know what the court will decide. Either side could receive a setback.
However, Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively seem poised to continue their legal war until they go to trial early next year.
Notably, it sounds like there are others who had issues during filming (Lively was not the only actress to file a complaint).
It will be interesting to hear how others who worked on the project testify at trial — if and when it comes to that.
For now, both legal teams remain busy preparing their arguments — and, in some cases, trying to end the trial before it begins.
Justin Baldoni Accuses Blake Lively of Improvised Kiss, Wants Lawsuit Tossed Out was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.