Blake Lively sues the director and co-star of ‘Breaking the Circle’ for sexual harassment | Culture

One of the battles that has given the most headlines and gossip in Hollywood this 2024, finally has a real answer. Actress Blake Lively has sued her co-star and director of Break the circle, Justin Baldoni, for sexual harassment on filming and for plotting a smear campaign against her. The film, based on a best-seller Colleen Hoover’s romantic romance with sexist violence at its epicenter and also produced by Lively, is the fifteenth highest-grossing title of the year and the first that does not belong to a franchise.

In the lawsuit, which has been advanced by the gossip portal TMZ, Lively, wife of Ryan Reynolds, says that Baldoni coordinated a smear campaign designed, according to the actress, to “destroy” her reputation through “social manipulation” in response to to confront him during filming, notes USA Today this Saturday. The lawsuit includes multiple cell phone messages sent by Baldoni, which hint at a latent tension that had already been discussed, but had never been confirmed. The controversy had led to months of speculation, given that the protagonists did not do joint promotion nor did they appear together at any event. “I hope that my legal actions help lift the curtain on these sinister vengeful tactics to harm people and help protect others who may be targeted,” explained the protagonist of Gossip Girl a The New York Times, about the lawsuit filed in California.

The New York newspaper, which has had access to the documents, explains that in the summer, when the film was released, producer Jamey Heath hired a crisis management company. During filming, Lively had protested that men (the director and producer) made sexual and inappropriate comments about her. The studio then agreed to use a privacy coordinator and hired independent producers to act as a buffer. In the lawsuit, Lively alleges that the crisis management company was hired to discredit the actress, who was harshly criticized online while promoting the film, and thus save the prestige of two men who had supported the MeToo movement.

“We can bury anyone,” said one of the leaked messages from crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, who handled cases like Johnny Depp or rappers Drake and Travis Scott. “The narrative you have created online It’s great,” they shared in some leaked messages: “We have survived,” they point out. The producer says in a statement to The New York Times that this is another “desperate attempt by the actress to ‘fix’ her negative reputation.” “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an attempt to publicly hurt and create a narrative.”

In Break the circlewhich has grossed almost 350 million euros, Lively plays a woman named Lily Bloom, a florist who begins an abusive relationship with a man named Ryle Kincaid, played by Justin Baldoni. But while the actor, known for Jane The Virginfocused the promotion on social content around sexist violence, the actress sold it as a happy event, like a dating movie, almost a romantic comedy. A position for which he received a lot of criticism. TMZ points out this Saturday that, according to the lawsuit documents, the problems on the set took such a turn that a summit meeting was held to discuss the hostility in the workplace, and among those present was even Reynolds, star and screenwriter of the trilogy Deadpool. When it premiered Break the circleIn addition, it was commented that the actor had helped rewrite a key scene at the end of the film, which created even more tension with the director. In the end, the cut that was used is Lively’s.

The gossip portal points out that among Lively’s alleged requests were that the director not show her any more videos or images of naked women; to not talk to him anymore about his “addiction to pornography; that there was no more talk among the team about genitals, and that there were no more requests regarding the actress’s weight, or comments about her dead father.” Lively considered the sex scenes that Baldoni wanted to be gratuitous, and points out that he improvised kissing scenes without consent. The lawsuit also attacks producer Jamey Heath, the film’s studio co-founder Steve Sarowitz, and the campaign’s public relations experts.

Following the promotion, Lively’s social perception was lower than ever, with a reputational setback accompanied by uncomfortable videos of her interviews being distributed across the Internet. Critics accused her of not understanding the tone of the film, said she was difficult to work with, and painted her as an abuser. fans and haters They brought to light that Lively got married on a former slave plantation—they had to apologize—or that her former colleagues from Gossip Girl They barely have any relationship with her. Sales of her new hair care product plummeted. Baldoni, for his part, this December was invited to speak at an event about men “who combat sexual violence and promote values ​​of global equality.”