Blake Lively, RR & It Ends With Us drama

[notallbloom]

Have NC because I freely admit that I have (limited) skin in this game, I am not entirely neutral.

This tells the story of the rift better than I could video here more about JB here JB info

Have worked for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in the UK, they are ...erm not my favourite slebs to work with. BL can be nasty to staff, her I'm all for women thing would be great, if she wasn't awful to them in reality. RR sometimes apologetically, always sides with BL, as his wife.
However, she does have 4 young DCs, so has spent much of the last decade pregnant, or post partum, which is enough to make anyone tired and therefore appear 'difficult'.

As I am senior in my role, stars have to treat me with some decency. Even so, the mask slips, I do everything I can to make their time in the UK as comfortable as possible, whilst placating the staff they upset, I will not work with them if I can avoid it.

Justin Baldoni directed It Ends With Us, I do not know JB.

Anti JB side (note there isn't much information about what JB has done wrong):
• He was difficult on set.
• He was acting and directing, diluting his ability to do both.
• He has hired a the firm of PR crisis manager who helped to improve Johnny Depp's image during the Amber Heard trial.
• JB has a pro 'good' men podcast called Man Enough, largely it is positive. Unfortunately he had Drake Bell on the podcast and did not question his accountability for previous SA.

Anti BL side:
• BL is trying to give the film a Barbie moment, encouraging audiences, for a film about DV, to wear florals.
• BL has objected to two things; she says JB fat-shamed her on set and, in one scene kissed her for too long (no suggestion that the kiss itself was inappropriate e.g. tongue).
• BL & RR made a cut of the film, which emphasises the rom-com of the story, rather than the DV.
• BL has corralled the author, Colleen Hoover and the cast to 'unfollow' JB on social media.
• RR rewrote a scene for the film without being asked by the director in doing so, RR broke the writer's strike.
• The cast have not been doing any press or standing on the red carpet at the premieres with JB.
• BL is using the film promo to also promote her new hair brand.

It may be that JB was a massive a-hole, or it may be that BL was a 'mean girl' and used her considerable power to influence the rest of the cast to be unpleasant to JB.
The truth could lie somewhere in the middle.

This is everything I know, I did not work on the film, or the promotion of it, so far.
I am able to agree that I have direct experience of seeing what BL and RR are like IRL, whereas I do not have the same experience of JB.
I'm prepared to accept that JB is the villain here.
I do not have any further information about this situation, if any comes my way I will, without breaking my contractual obligations, write about it here.

I think the issue was that the journalist didn't say,

"Congratulations on your pregnancy"

She said,

"Congratulations on your little bump."

And, rightly or wrongly, Blake took offence with regards to the comment about her body rather than her pregnancy.

Not condoning the reaction btw. But it was a slightly clumsy comment imo, no matter how well meant.

@NutellaEllaElla I agree with Gwyneth Paltrow.

However, I do think that with those open doors the public, your fans have expectations of you. So it is double-edged.

Many famous people come to the UK, straight from a transatlantic flight, they are jet lagged, they have to do a lot of press. Then they go to many other European countries and do the same. It would be enough to stretch anyone to their limits.

@putyourhandsintheairok I can respond to whomever I like, feel free to ignore me though.

However, I do think that with those open doors the public, your fans have expectations of you. So it is double-edged.

Absolutely, the ones who just act as opposed to becoming a celeb can stay fairly private. It’s harder when you invite the public and press into your private life.

I love Angelina & think she is one of the rare genuine ones

@Sleepydoor no, I am not part of JB, or BL and RR's crisis management.

@PerkyMintDeer yeah that's a good point. I still think that in general though, the sentiment behind a comment is what should be responded to. It was obviously a well intentioned comment, so didn't deserve a rude response.

I don’t disagree with a lot of these comments but this is nitpicking at its finest. You don’t HAVE to find a reason to knock her down in every situation

@DramaLlamaBangBang you might be surprised!
My colleagues and I have many good stories about famous people.
As I have written, those on press tours can often be on punishing schedules. They are exhausted, which doesn't bring out the best in anyone.
You are right, many of them had to claw their way to the top and were horribly abused, in myriad ways, en route. That has to affect someone.

@DodoTired yes!

@OnAndOnAndonAgain sometimes. Sometimes it is dull, repetitive and we are trying to calm frustrated people. Every day is different, there's certainly that aspect.

Yes, that was totally uncalled for and was just nasty and done to promote her drink brand, tacky. The apology only came after the Princess of Wales revealed her treatment for cancer, which says it all.

It's not clear that Baldoni has done anything at all wrong yet. He may have done. I'm definitely not ruling out that he's a sleazebag/predator. But so far all he's known to have done is hired a crisis PR firm after the BL/RR juggernaut had already gone on the attack. The fact that Johnny Depp hired the same firm is really neither here nor there; crisis PR firms will work for anyone who pays, and how many Hollywood crisis management PR firms do you think there are?

@Crunchymum yes, I suppose I would do an AMA, not today!
I will do one soon if there is genuine interest.

@Josette77 Angelina - yes, some years ago. Brad - yes.

you care so little that not only have you clicked on the thread title, and read the whole OP, but then typed out a 3 paragraph rant about how little you care...

There are lots of things I don't give shiny shits about. Football, for example. So...I don't give it any headspace. If I saw a post clearly about football I wouldn't bother clicking on it, let alone write a long reply about how much I dislike football and how weird anyone else who likes it is...

Yeah I saw that and it was awful

i felt for that interviewer

I haven’t seen the movie and didn’t understand what it was about, but I have to be honest when I then watched the interviews with Justin Baldoni I was a bit stunned as to why he was so serious and talking about domestic violence… Oh that’s what the movie is about! I’d have had no idea without seeing him being interviewed tbh…

Oh I saw that 2016 interview, it was really unpleasant to say the least… Had I not seen that I’d be thinking people were really overreacting about this whole drama!

@ChaoticCrumble don’t start with the pro- Israel stuff, unless he’s stated he wants war and wants innocent people killed it’s irrelevant. He’s from a Jewish background and he’s entitled to an opinion.

I think Taylor is incredibly talented. Her lyrics are both beautiful and clever.

But she’s not a perfect person - even though she has had to pretend to be in order to be accepted in the industry as a girl / woman. She often sings about being a pathological people pleaser. Her song Mirrorball is all about how she’ll do anything to keep you looking at her.

She interviews very well though - is incredibly likeable.

I think she and her team are very clever and know what they’re doing.

But she’s a billionaire and she didn’t get there by being flatly, passively nice to everyone around her. She got there by working tirelessly.

The about being ruthless with her competition - I don’t think Charli XCX etc are in her league, and if she were in another industry and a man (Steve Jobbs and Apple, say) no one would say “that’s mean of Steve Jobbs, taking more of a market share. It should let another company and creator have some”. I know that’s not a perfect comparison, but I really don’t think she’s gatekeeping the top spot from other women - think she wants it because she’s very ambitious and wants to be the best and her fans are willingly giving it to her. Her old peers, Adele, Billie Eilish, etc could never compete with her now, she’s so far surpassed them.

All that to one side, if you look at her friends (BL, Gigi Hadid, etc) they don’t seem like the “nicest” people. But whatever - I’ll never know them!

The other thing about Taylor is, her lyrics are so personal and her discography is so huge that it can feel like you “know” her, that’s why her fans are so faithful.

I think she’s insanely talented and really admire her though. But she wants it. I don’t think anyone gets to be a billionaire without being ruthless.

I think it's not just the 2016 interview which is appalling IMO. Another past interview she's immediately looking to take offence.

It's also the fun, jovial, let's make it all about me, my hair line, my husband's movie, that she's prioritising, not the theme of the movie. She doesn't answer any question directly. Even her body language. It's all so off and tone deaf.

In another interview she was asked how she would deal with any fans who wanted to speak to her about their own experiences with DV and she turns it into a big dramatic 'am I supposed to give them my address, phone number' etc etc. So needless, her co-star looked mortified.

Meow 🐱🥛

I didn't 'start' I basically just mentioned it, if you hadn't replied to me I wouldn't have carried on a conversation about it now... It's essentially the only 'negative' I've seen about him and as you point out he has a Jewish background. (Negative in quotes as it won't be to many, but it will be to some).

I'm actually a Baldoni fan from what I've seen over the years and before the film came out was hoping he'd do really well from it. He's the one who bought the rights before it went huge on TikTok and I know he did really good awareness work on the movie about cystic fibrosis. I was disappointed when BL saw it as a moment to promote her hair, though I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until I saw her terrible interviews about it being a girly film etc.

'Clash of arseholes' is quite the mental images 😂

Yeah that was really bad, why didn't she just say oh I'd love to help everyone but I can't but you can call a domestic violence charity like Women's Aid or whatever the American equivalent is on social media. It was very me, me, me.

What was your impression of them? I really really liked her.

Yes I agree, after seeing both of those interviews I think BL comes across as an awful person. I genuinely didn’t even consider her previously to say if I liked or disliked her (although I didn’t agree with the plantation wedding), but after seeing those interviews I’m inclined to feel sorry for JB. She comes across like a bully and unfortunately it seems the rest of the cast sided with her as she has a very famous husband, JB apparently even went to a separate film premiere with just his wife, while she went to a different one with the rest of the cast.
The way she’s promoting the film like it’s the Barbie movie is also completely tone deaf.