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.

It's RR who has the booze business (Aviation Gin) - her business is alcohol-free

I was ambivalent towards her until i saw that 2016 interview yesterday. It made me so uncomfortable, I don't care whether she was put off by the innocuous comment (congratulating her on her pregnancy). It strikes me as looking for offence or to make a point where none exists. Likewise, the question about costumes was relevant because the film was a period piece with great costumes apparently (20's/30's I believe). Her career has shown her enjoying and experimenting with fashion, so it's not too much of a reach to think you'd have found common ground in asking her a question about something she seems interested in.

Even if those things caused her offence, to deliberately treat another person that way, to have your body language and manner exclude the person doing their job of interviewing you, was straight out of a school bully playbook.

And those saying she doesn't have to be nice, yes she bloody does, we all do. One of the big things wrong with the world these days is that there is some badge of honour to 'tell it like it is'. In any walk of life or job, that's just rudeness, and calling it out isn't anti-feminist (I call men out for being a dick too)

@notallbloom Off the main topic but your TS comments are intriguing. My DDs are fans so her songs are on a loop in our house and I find her a fascinating character. So warm and attaching during her gigs towards her fans and yet so scathing sometimes, in her lyrics, of ex-boyfriends and presumably ex-friends.

I do get the sense that she can be ruthless with competition (she’s an extremely effective businesswoman after all), perhaps particularly towards younger female artists, but re your comment about her dancers didn’t she pay them significant bonuses? And American politics- how does that factor in?

Sorry to dig but I just love character-analysing and it feels like she’s a fictional creation half the time- perhaps written by her own self!

Because I am so sick of media stories and threads about celebrities. I don't understand anyone being interested in them at all- either in their lives, behaviours, what they wear/say/do, in following them on social media. I think people who are and do are sad and mindless and easily taken in by what is always just PR to make them ridiculous sums of money. It's pathetic. We should ignore them completely, not read the stuff, not comment on their social media or on newspaper or online articles about them, nit like photos. Just ignore them and, hopefully, the media would stop reporting this rubbish.

I just watched it... she was horrible to the interviewer there

@Twistybranch that article is pretty damning!

Well I like her. People saying she won’t work again, what crime has she committed?
But if the director has hired a PR company to trash her, then is isn’t as nice as he pretends either.
I’m not nice and kind all the time who is!
It reminds me of the PR about Lea Michele(Rachel from Glee).

I won’t be watching the film because I like action movies best.

Really interesting post OP and I think it is good to always hear another side to famous and popular celebs. To be successful I would imagine that you cannot always be 'nice' and also no one is perfect. I really hate the narrative that there is a good guy and a bad guy. Sometimes people don't gel - which is fine. Also interesting to hear about the influence of good PR which I imagine lots of celebs have now to present them as 'good people'. I think that us 'normal people' need to understand that celebs are presenting an image which might always not be accurate. Absolutely love Taylor Swift but don't think for one second that she is a perfect human being.

I am fascinated by this. I don't imagine BL or TS became so successful by being pushovers but as Gwyneth Paltrow days on Graham Norton, once you are famous and beautiful, obstacles get removed for you and you can become a bit of an asshole. Heck, we can all be assholes. We just don't tend to be filmed on our bad days

I thought Betty Buzz (BL’s drinks line) are all soft drinks? Or does she have another one?

The last paragraph is brutal:

With It Ends With Us, Lively was faced with a high-profile movie that features content that her brand probably doesn’t want to be associated with. Blake Lively the brand was at odds with Blake Lively the actor. In this case, the brand won out; Lively chose to put her efforts behind her brand. Unfortunately for that brand, it’s Blake Lively’s movie — and her complicated image — we can’t stop talking about.

There is nothing more interesting than other people, whether that's a Hollywood actress or Jamie from Accounts. That's why so many of us enjoy discussing people, or 'gossiping' if you prefer.

If you don't feel so inclined, that's fine. But it doesn't make you superior, despite your obvious belief that it does.

"Because I am so sick of media stories and threads about celebrities. I don't understand anyone being interested in them at all"

And I'm so sick of posters who quote the long OP when there's zero fucking need. I don't understand why anyone would do that at all. Yet here you are @LuluBlakey1

She has Betty Booze too.

I don’t think it’s the fact she’s successful, it’s because she’s behaving in an unpleasant manner. It makes you wonder why someone who seen as rich/powerful would want to bring a less successful woman down a peg.

In other words she’s ungrateful and entitled.

I thought it was well know that RR was not nice, particularly earlier in his career. I think the relationship floundered with ScarJo because he wanted her at home baking cookies, popping out babies and she wasn’t into stroking his male ego. Along comes BL on the set of Green Lantern being a “cool girl” who just wants to bake cookies (not a euphemism!). No idea of they had an affair (although wouldn’t surprise, wasn’t there always rumours of on set affair with BA during The Town?). She hooks up with Leo to show RR what he’s missing. RR and ScarJo breaks up, BL drops Leo and off RR and BL ride into the sunset. She pulled back in her career for his ego (?) and/or babies, white picket fence in upstate New York. He rehabilitates his image through family man and deadpool funny sarcastic guy image. Becomes seriously rich off back of business deals etc etc. They have a very carefully cultivated image now.
in terms of the current drama, tbh I think she’s just quite shallow and hasn’t really considered the DV aspect well from promotional point of view. But studio execs, pr, marketing people - why didn’t they push a different tone???

Don't they know what questions and what the interviewer is going to say before hand? Maybe she didn't want any mention of the pregnancy which would be fair enough

Why can't you be?

It's not obligatory to be an arse

Ryan Reynolds and Alanis Morissette split in 2007. In September 2008, RR married Scarlett Johansson.

Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson announced their split in December 2010. In September 2012, RR married Blake Lively.

RR seems to have a trend.

I didn’t pluck this out of thin air, it was being talked about a lot online. Same way the people who worked with Ellen Degeneres went online to talk about the toxic work environment and bullying on her show.

These celebrities have whole teams to manage their public persona, so it’s not exactly a stretch. You’re free to not believe it, along with the reports of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Since you’ll probably never meet any of them it’s irrelevant anyway.

I didn't even realise BL did films. I thought she was a mainly tv person. I'd do like RR as an actor to watch in a movie tbh though the amount of movies he starts in is insane

Celebrity interviews, especially in America, are usually very tightly stage managed with all questions being approved in advance. Often the celebrity's agent, or a studio representative if the interview is promoting a film, will be present to ensure that the interview follows the script.

The interviewer, where BL was offended by them congratulating her on her baby bump and BL retorted congratulations on yours……was unable to conceive. She was devastated.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13750309/blake-lively-interview-kjersti-flaa-bump-comment-ends-movie.html

Exactly…

Woman has creative differences with man directing film about DV.

Man hires legal team that supported other man who can be legally called a wife beater in the U.K.

Woman is the one who gets cancelled for wearing flowery dresses and being ‘bitchy.’

I completely disagree about the 2016 interview, BL wasn't asked questions about her pregnancy, just congratulated about it, and then replied incredibly rudely.

Then the first question was about costumes - HW celebs have previously appropriately criticised this before (e.g. scarlet johanssen/Anne hathaway) - why are women always asked about typically feminine things like clothes- however in this case it was a period film with a very deliberate aesthetic which the interviewer prefaced the question with - so in context it was an appropriate question.

Also BL didn't respond by saying "why are women always asked about costumes, let's discuss the deeper themes" she said why do we always talk about women's costumes and then proceeded to discuss the men's costumes (at length!) instead - which WOULD have been a completely weird question for the interviewer to ask! If you're going to ask about costumes you'll ask the people you're actually interviewing about theirs, not about their co-stars who aren't there! If the interviewer had only asked 2 women about their male co-stars she would have been criticised more for that! It was an innocuous and, in the context of the film, relevant question and the 2 actresses' (particularly BL's) response was really bizarre.

In relation to the current film, I'll only add that i follow someone on insta (herself a DV survivor who does a lot of "spill alls") who did a (fairly tame compared to lots of the publicity on this, not even as blatant as comments on this thread) short video on the whole thing, was reported by BL/RRs reps, and got their whole social media content demonitised which as a content creator is their main income. Which, you can absolutely say that as a gossip type blog that's a risk you take every time you post a video but it's interesting that of all her vids (some of which are far more critical of other celebs) its this one that was targetted - BL and RR have a huge PR presence which makes it even more interesting that they have fucked up to this degree in promoting this film UNLESS it was specifically planned- bad publicity is better than no publicity etc.

@Ghosttofu99 but there is nuance. I’ve never heard of JB so maybe he thought I’m going to get through under the bus here. Plus BL has bought a lot of the criticism on herself.