As Blake Lively prepares for her showdown with Justin Baldoni’s lawyers today experts are saying his team will focus on ‘weaknesses’ in her accusations – with a video obtained by Daily Mail likely to be their star exhibit.
The It Ends With Us actress is set to undergo her deposition Thursday, with Baldoni’s legal team expected to do a ‘deep dive’ into all of her claims.
Lively, 37, has already hit a succession of snags in trying to prove her $250million suit against her former co-star, with several of her claims already being thrown out.
But experts are now claiming that footage exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail in January could be the latest blow to the actress.
The mother-of-four had claimed Baldoni, 41, was able to nuzzle her neck and comment on the way she smelled without anyone else on set hearing because their microphones were switched off.
But the footage seemed to prove the opposite: not only were the microphones on, but the pair had spent most of the scene happily chatting about their respective spouses.
Employment and defamation law attorney Camron Dowlatshahi told Fox News Digital: ‘Baldoni’s team wants to get admissions from her about the weaknesses in her case and information to support Baldoni’s defenses.
It was one of the biggest bombshells in a lawsuit packed full of them – that Justin Baldoni sexually harassed Blake Lively while filming a dance scene by dragging his lips down her neck and telling her ‘it smells so good’.
In the latest filing, Justin alleged that Blake got one of her famous pals involved after he told her that he wasn’t sure he would use some of the changes she had made to the movie
‘For example, they will likely do a deep dive into the videos of her joking and flirting with Baldoni and get her to admit that she was doing so, instead of purportedly feeling uncomfortable, as her representation has claimed.’
Anything Lively says during her deposition ‘can and will be used against her,’ Dowlatshahi emphasized.
‘Each of their interactions will be analyzed and questioned, and any misstatement by Lively can and will be used against her.
‘I expect there to be multiple deposition sessions as well and for the Baldoni team to move for additional sessions. So, this will likely be the first of potentially a few depositions.’
The tapes show how friendly the two stars were before it all went so wrong. They laugh and joke around – even joshing about the size of Baldoni’s nose and talk about how they spend their time with their spouses.
They include a complete record of the conversation in question at around the seven-minute mark that makes clear the comment about her smelling so good was in response to Lively talking about her spray tan as they film a romantic dance.
Baldoni tells Lively he’s probably getting his beard on her and she responds.by saying she’s probably getting spray tan on him. Then he quips back ‘it smells good’ before both laugh and she tells him the scent actually comes from her body makeup.
In her civil rights complaint filed last month, the actress, 37, insisted nobody overheard the comment because the romantic montage was silent and the microphones were switched off. But DailyMail.com can reveal that 40-year-old Baldoni’s sound equipment was switched on – and has exclusively obtained an explosive video showing all three takes that smashes Lively’s claims into smithereens
DailyMail.com’s exclusive footage is the latest revelation in a lengthy saga that began with rumors of rancor behind the scenes of It Ends With Us when it was released last August.
And while the montage does indeed show Baldoni nuzzling Lively’s neck as part of the scene in which they play lovers, the conversation between them is all business with the pair spending most of it talking about lighting and their other halves.
The clip, which is raw footage shot while filming It Ends With Us, comes complete with audio and was passed to DailyMail.com by the actor’s production company Wayfarer and his lawyer Bryan Freedman who has previously said Baldoni has ‘nothing to hide’.
Lively claimed total ‘vindication’ after a New York judge sensationally tossed the defamation part of Justin Baldoni’s $400m countersuit against the actress and her husband Ryan Reynolds.
But she is she still facing allegations of breach of contract and invasion of privacy in Baldoni’s amended filing, she is also likely to find it an uphill battle to prove the claims in her own lawsuit.
A New York judge last month tossed the actress’s emotional distress claim after she refused to release her medical records to Baldoni’s team.
Then comes the fact Lively’s claims Baldoni orchestrated a negative media campaign against her have also been called into question – thanks to her reliance on what his team have described as ‘doctored’ texts.
The exchanges between publicists who work for Baldoni, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, were taken proffered as evidence of a smear campaign.
But legal documents filed by Baldoni claim that they had been edited to remove context and were incomplete records of the conversation.
The source of Lively’s accusation comes seven minutes in when Baldoni asks ‘if I’m getting beard on you’
Lively laughs and says ‘I’m probably getting spray tan on you’ to which he replies ‘it smells good’ and they both laugh
Lively filed a updated version of her complaint just hours before her deposition, with her lawyers appearing to be refocusing on getting Jed Wallace back into the case.
A judge granted Wallace’s request for dismissal on July 16th, but Lively’s team is making a renewed effort to Baldoni’s social media guru back into the case ahead of her deposition by claiming he was behind a ‘social attack’ plan.
Lively’s claims of a toxic work environment on set have also been called into question thanks to a voicemail note, also exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail.
In that, a groveling Baldoni was heard apologizing for not immediately making the changes she had asked for in a scene – and heaping praise on the actress and their work together.
Then comes the fact Lively’s claims Baldoni orchestrated a negative media campaign against her have also been called into question – thanks to her reliance on what his team have described as ‘doctored’ texts.
The exchanges between publicists who work for Baldoni, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, were taken proffered as evidence of a smear campaign.
But legal documents filed by Baldoni claim that they had been edited to remove context and were incomplete records of the conversation.
