From allegations of sexual harassment, to interference from Taylor Swift and Ryan Reynolds and accustations of body-shaming, there is seemingly no element of It Ends With Us that did not cause tension – and that goes right down to the shoes on Blake Lively’s feet.
Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit documents claim that his co-star insisted on completely revamping the costumes at the start of products to align with her vision of her character, Lily Bloom, with the budget ballooning to more than $600,000 as a result.
Legal documents claim Lively was ‘ignoring the director’s vision for her character and disposing of the weeks of effort and creativity spent by the wardrobe team on shopping and carefully crafting her wardrobe’ and ‘sent hundreds of images to the Film’s costume designer’… depicting the style of wardrobe she wanted for her character.’
Court papers claim the costume designer had to ‘re-shop Lively’s wardrobe, far exceeding the allocated budget and diverting time and resources, while also preparing wardrobes for the rest of the cast.
She also reportedly wanted to spend $5,000 on shoes to show her character ‘had money’ – despite being a fledgling small business owner – and her changes meant that Baldoni was ‘forced to rethink an entire script that had been in the works for years’.
While fans will have to wait until 2026 for a court hearing to thrash out the claims made by both sides, they can certainly take a view on whether the money on Blake’s wardrobe – consisting of a lot of patchwork, denim and camouflage – was well spent.
Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit documents reveal Blake Lively insisted on a £600,000 new wardrobe in order to take control of her character, Lily Bloom
Legal documents claim Blake once wanted to spend £5,000 on shoes to show her character ‘had money’ – despite being a fledgling small business owner
A message from the Line Producer on the film dated April 25 2023 reads: ‘Wardrobe’s budget for spending is $185k.
‘Normally wardrobe overspends and then does tons of returns and ends up in budget. Our Wardrobe team told me they’d spend about $500k and then land back at $185k once returns are done
‘To date they’ve already spent $615K and they need their cashet cards all replenished because they’ve only shopped for Justin and Blake.
‘They had to reshop everything for Blake after creative changes but it’s a lot of money.
‘I trust them of course but want to keep you all posted as this is way more than I’ve ever seen wardrobe go over budget with the initial spend.
‘At this point we have to replenish their cards because they haven’t shopped for the other characters. Just keeping you all posted.’
The legal fight erupted just before Christmas when Blake, 37, sued her It Ends With Us co-star Justin, 41, for sexual harassment, which he denied.
At the same time, the New York Times released a story based on Blake’s legal filing that accused him of orchestrating a negative publicity campaign against her.
In turn, Justin sued the Times for defamation and launched a $400m lawsuit against Blake and her husband Ryan Reynolds that accused her of using her celebrity power to hijack his film and attempt to torpedo his career – the Times and Blake have denied these claims.
The actress’ large requests meant Justin was ‘forced to rethink an entire script that had been in the works for years’, legal documents claim
The documents suggest Blake’s overpowering fashion choices could have blindsided Justin’s vision for her character, disposing weeks of effort spent by the wardrobe team on shopping and crafting her wardrobe – which was specifically tailored to Blake’s character well in advance
Now, bombshell legal documents detail the lengths Blake went to in order to gain control over her wardrobe choices – despite director Justin, Sony and Wayfarer approving the character’s wardrobe
Now, bombshell legal documents detail the lengths Blake went to in order to gain control over her wardrobe choices – despite director Justin, Sony and Wayfarer approving the character’s wardrobe.
Normally lead actors are granted approval over their character’s general look but usually do not receive full control.
The documents suggest Blake’s overpowering fashion choices could have blindsided Justin’s vision for her character, disposing weeks of effort spent by the wardrobe team on shopping and crafting her wardrobe – which was specifically tailored to Blake’s character well in advance.
The legal documents claim Blake would often send ‘hundreds of images late at night’ to the film’s costume designer.
Blake’s requests meant the costume designer of the film had to ‘re-shop Blake’s wardrobe, far exceeding the allocated budget, time and resources’.
The legal documents further claim Blake often ‘refused’ to participate in wardrobe fittings at the production office 15 minutes from her Manhattan home and allegedly demanded the outfits be shipped to her at great extra expense.
The documents claim Justin and the studio ‘ceded full control to Blake over her wardrobe’ in an ‘effort to maintain harmony’ and ‘avoid further delays’ which would later prove ‘regrettable.’
There was a reported backlash from Sony when paparazzi photos of Blake wearing her new wardrobe while filming on May 15 2023 were published – with the images ‘widely reported as unflattering.’
The lawsuit claims: ‘Justin received direct criticism from Sony, who voiced serious concerns about the impact of the photos on the Film’s public reception.’
It was further claimed Justin had approached Blake in her trailer while she was with her team to discuss ‘necessary wardrobe adjustments, reassert his role as director, and get her on board with him having approval over her character’s wardrobe.’
This comes after Blake’s lawyers raised new allegations in their hotly contested case against Justin in court on Monday.
Justin’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, pleaded with the judge to move the case forward as quickly as possible because his client was ‘suffering greatly.’
Blake’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb, however, vehemently denied the claim that Blake was purposely dragging her heels in the lawsuit.
Judge Lewis Liman denied a move from Blake and her husband Ryan to gag Team Justin following the series of bombshell claims made by his legal team.
But Gottlieb said they intend to hit Justin with fresh allegations in Blake’s sexual harassment case, and insisted that protecting the couple’s celebrity friends was going to be ‘very important.’
Gottlieb told the court during the hearing that they intend to add ‘both claims and parties’ to a revised complaint which will be filed by Valentine’s Day.
The legal documents claim Blake would often send ‘hundreds of images late at night’ to the film’s costume designer
Blake’s requests meant the costume designer of the film had to ‘re-shop Blake’s wardrobe, far exceeding the allocated budget, time and resources’
The legal documents further claim Blake often ‘refused’ to participate in wardrobe fittings at the production office 15 minutes from her Manhattan home and allegedly demanded the outfits be shipped to her at great extra expense
Last week, Justin updated his own complaint in his $400 million defamation case against the Gossip Girl star which accused Blake of giving The New York Times advanced access to her complaint of sexual harassment during the filming of the movie It Ends With Us.
Gottlieb attacked Freedman for making statements outside of court which had challenged the ‘character, integrity and truthfulness’ of Blake.
After complaining, Blake’s lawyers were told was that ‘we (Lively) started it’ with the New York Times article, Gottlieb said.
Gottlieb cited an interview in People magazine in which Freedman accused Blake of a ‘pattern of bullying.’
In another statement Freedman claimed that if Blake really was sexually harassed she wouldn’t have returned to the film.
A skeptical Judge Liman said: ‘isn’t that what’s stated in his complaint?’
Gottlieb said no and that lawyers were ‘not supposed to launch attacks on another party’s character’.
He added that the leaking of raw footage from It Ends With Us was ‘particularly concerning’ because it could start an ‘arms race’ whereby lawyers have to appear in the media to fire back at every disclosure.
It was further claimed Justin had approached Blake in her trailer while she was with her team to discuss ‘necessary wardrobe adjustments, reassert his role as director, and get her on board with him having approval over her character’s wardrobe’
The documents claim Justin and the studio ‘ceded full control to Blake over her wardrobe’ in an ‘effort to maintain harmony’ and ‘avoid further delays’ which would later prove ‘regrettable’
‘If there’s no guard rails in place….we (the attorneys) have to and go out on shows arguing on shows what a particular document or video means’.
Freedman fired back that the statements had ‘not been a one way street’ and tried to walk the court through a number made by Blake’s lawyers.
After listening to them, Judge Liman said Freedman ‘went a little bit further’ than Blake’s lawyers.
The judge said that he was adopting rules for lawyers known as Rule 3.6 which bars both of them from making extrajudicial statements that could influence the jury.
Judge Liman said he was ‘hesitant to adopt it’ but after both sides agreed to it, he changed his mind.
He said: ‘My expectation is the parties will comply with their ethical obligations. I don’t expect this case to devolve into satellite litigation over the comments of a lawyer.
‘Both have said a lot in the pleadings that give the public plenty to feast upon’.
Freedman tried to protest and said: ‘Not to sound like a four year old fighting a four year old with ‘but they started it’ but once someone says something it becomes fact, there’s no way to fight against it.
The legal fight erupted just before Christmas when Blake sued her It Ends With Us co-star Justin for sexual harassment, which he denied
‘You start to lose things without the ability to have the court’s adjudication. This was not started by us.’
Judge Liman also warned that if both sides didn’t behave themselves he could move the date of the trial forward from March next year.
He said: ‘I’m not going to do that, I’m convinced the parties need the time for discovery.
‘But if it turns out that this ends up being litigated in the press in a way that would prejudice the opportunity of a fair trial…one of the tools the court has is to accelerate the date of the trial.
‘That’s something that is out there. I don’t want to do that.’
Earlier in the hearing, Gottlieb, who also represents Ryan, said that he would be seeking a protective order through the court for future filings to protect the couple’s celebrity friends.
While he did not name Taylor Swift, she would likely be one of those affected as she was referred to in Justin’s complaint.
Gottlieb said: ‘We do believe there will be provisions in a protective order that will be appropriate in this case given the nature of the allegations and the high profile nature of some of the individuals who will be involved.
‘There is a significant number of high profile individuals on both sides.
‘In particular addressing the interests and needs of third parties is going to be very important in this case.’
Gottlieb said he would plan to ‘seek protections we believe will be very important particularly in a case where there’s been a significant amount of leaking materials.’
He said: ‘We do intend to propose a protective order in this case.’
Judge Liman agreed and said that even before the other parties were named ‘you already got a lot of high profile people’ involved.
Justin’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said he would be prepared to agree to the order.
Gottlieb also talked about discovery and how there will be a significant amount about how Justin and the other defendants used the media to ‘shape and push forward’ their retaliation strategy.
He also talked about finding material on ‘individuals who may have been paid for taking certain positions in public.’
Freedman, who represents Justin and his PR team, asked the judge in todays first court hearing to move the case forward as quickly as possible because his clients were ‘suffering greatly.’
