What Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni Said About Using Intimacy Coordinators: 'Critical for Everyone's Safety'

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni spoke in separate interviews about working with intimacy coordinators during production It ends with us.

The costars portray a whirlwind relationship that turns toxic and abusive in the film, which is an adaptation of the 2016 bestseller by author Colleen Hoover.

Chelsea Cary and Lizzy Talbot are credited as intimacy coordinators on the project, and Baldoni, also a director, told Harper’s Bazaar India that the film team “knew from the very beginning that there was no way we could make this film without an intimacy coordinator” as well as a stunt coordinator.

“It was really important to have them on set — not just to make us all feel safe, but because they were also amazing collaborators with wonderful ideas that really elevated the film,” Baldoni, 40, said.

“… Having them on set and always in my line of sight was invaluable because at any time I could ask one of them for a thumbs up or we would work together on a different approach,” Baldoni said. “They were such an important and integral part of our process.”

Also, producer Lively, 36, told Digital Spy that it was “critical” to include an intimacy coordinator on set.

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Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively in “It Ends With Us”.

Nicole Rivelli

“You coordinate the stunts, you coordinate the dance. That is choreography. So to be able to say ‘This is happening here, here and here’ in a stunt, and ‘This is happening here, here and here’ in a dance, but ‘Now you people just put your bodies together and your mouths and whatever, and the action and cut,’ that’s funny. I think choreography is key to everyone’s safety.”

At the premiere of the film in New York, Baldoni said The Hollywood Reporter that acting out scenes of domestic violence is “very difficult” for me.

“There were a lot of times where I had to go into a room by myself and just cry or shake it off and try to get him out of me and that energy out of me, because it’s too real,” he said. “There are too many people who are real Lily Blooms of the world who have to deal with that every day, and I wanted it to be as real as possible, and yet it was very difficult to shoot those scenes.”

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in “It Ends With Us”.

Sony pictures

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Baldoni also told the publication that he left those scenes to the Lively actor and their “amazing” female coordinators.

“Honestly, between those three women, they were really the ones who choreographed and directed all those scenes because I was supposed to play Ryle. At those moments, to be completely honest, I really wasn’t the director; it was the women who were in charge,” he said.

“From the beginning I wanted all the intimate scenes to be from a woman’s point of view and I never wanted my bias to potentially interfere and enter the film,” added Baldoni. “So I kind of stepped back and felt all the things and let myself do the work and shook it off as best I could.”

Lively recently shared resources for domestic violence survivors on her Instagram Story with a message to fans to support the film’s message.

Blake Lively in the movie “It Ends With Us”.

Nicole Rivelli/SONY IMAGES

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“It ends with us is a story about a woman’s experience. All the highest and the lowest. And we’re very proud of that,” she continued. “We celebrated this film and bringing such an important message to the masses.”

Lively added: “Thank you all for the hugs It ends with us with the same love, pain and joy with which we shared it with all of you.”

After reports of a rift among the majors It ends with us cast and the noticeable distance between Lively and Baldoni, who did not appear together during the press tour, a source told PEOPLE that the tension goes beyond creative differences. “All is not as it seems. There is much more to this story. The main actors and Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with” Baldoni, the source said.

It ends with us it’s in theaters now.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or go to thehotline.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education