Blake Lively and Brandon Skelnar Dish On Bringing It Ends With Us Characters to Life: 'It’s Been a Trip'

Now that It ends with us finished filming, Blake Lively and Brandon Sklenar reflect on the experience.

During a Book Bonanza Q&A panel he moderated Party tonight On Friday, June 14, the actors – who play on-screen lovers Lily Bloom and Atlas Corrigan – were asked what the “journey” of bringing Colleen Hoover’s hit novel to life was like.

Sklenar’s first thought? “Oh man.”

“I mean, it’s been a journey,” the 33-year-old actor said, adding, “Honestly, I had no expectations for this stuff, and I’ve been kind of blown away by the response to everything.”

The most challenging part, according to Sklenar, was playing “a character that people have so many ideas about [of] who he is and what he thinks [to] to be, as it should look.”

Blake Lively and Brandon Sklenar in the movie ‘It Ends With Us’.

Jojo Wilden

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“And you just detach from it and let yourself, you know, do your work with it and not be burdened by what you think people might see or how they want to see it,” he added. “And just let it go and do what you do.”

Meeting and working with “powerhouse ladies” Lively, 36, and Hoover, 44, who joined Sklenar at the event in Grapevine, Texas, was also a highlight of the trip, Sklenar said.

“Colleen and I definitely spent some time getting to know each other and she’s just such a lovely, lovely person,” he said, noting that it was also “fantastic to meet Blake Lively.”

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In fact, because it is “so big Gossip girl fan,” meeting Lively — “finally” — may have been the “most exciting part” of the whole process, he later added.

Revealing her “most exciting part,” Lively explained that it was “Just bringing this movie to life.”

“Because it was such an emotionally rewarding film and I’m very proud of it,” she said. “And to do it in [a] a movie that people actually watch…if you become like a great female character, it’s usually like a movie that no one will ever see.”

Lively said that “it speaks to Colleen being able to tell a story that’s quite big and quite commercial, but still really grounded in human emotion.”

Colleen Hoover, Brandon Sklenar and Blake Lively at Book Bonanza for ‘It Ends With Us’.

Eric Charbonneau/Getty

But the scariest part of the process, says Sklenar, is yet to come because he hasn’t watched a single film yet. Lively, meanwhile, reflected on what was the “scariest part” for her, concluding: “I think this is the first time I haven’t felt fear.”

“I don’t know why,” she continued. “Maybe because I just had a baby three months ago and I thought, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing? So I had enough other things to worry about.”

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While reflecting on her own experience, Lively also recalled the most difficult part of filming, which she said was finding a balance between her two love interests, played by Sklenar and Justin Baldoni — who also directs the film.

“It was actually interesting because our director also plays my second love,” the actress said of Baldoni, who plays Ryle Kincaid in the film.

“And so I think when we were in scenes together, he said, ‘It seems like I am, but you look like you’re in love with him, but you love Ryle,'” Lively recalled. “And I said, ‘No, I love Ryle too. Like, ‘I really like Atlas, but I like Ryle.’ ”

In other words, she said, her character, Lily, was “conflicted.”

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The Gossip girl The alum said that “it’s always been an interesting dynamic when you have someone who plays a character and is also the one who feels like you’re watching a movie.”

“So we always thought, ‘Are we too connected?'” she said, adding “that’s always been hard for me.”

Elsewhere, Lively noted how much she adores her character in the film.

“I love Lily so much… I just love her. And I think it’s very important to love the character you’re playing and just understand and just… feel the heart and soul and all the people around you,” she said, adding that “every person in this film will reveal.”

It ends with us will be in theaters from August 9, 2024.

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Source: HIS Education