Blake Lively says producing and starring in “It Ends With Us,” Sony Pictures’ film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling romance novel, took just about everything she had to give.
“It was so important to me to work off camera,” Lively, who plays Lily Bloom, toldVarietyat the film’s New York premiere on Tuesday. “The work I did as a producer was far more all-consuming than anything I did playing Lily. I just did it all. There’s nothing I didn’t touch on this film,” she said.
Like its source material, “It Ends With Us” follows Bloom, who falls in love with an irresistible neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincaid, after several fateful meet-cutes. When Ryle’s violent tendencies emerge, Lily re-experiences the cycle of domestic abuse which defined her parent’s relationship and finds the strength to break free. In 2022, thanks to “BookTok,” the literature-side of TikTok which propels popular novels to stardom like influencers, Hoover’s novel sold four million copies and became a smash hit.
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“It took my love, it took my passion, it took my time, it took my fortitude and dedication, and it took my sleep,” Lively continued about working on the film. “Because of that, I’ve never had so much authorship in my life. I walk into this premiere with such pride for what we did. I can walk away for the first time saying, ‘I’ve put everything I have into this, and I’m proud of it.’ It’s one of the greatest gifts of my life, and definitely my career.”
“It Ends With Us” is directed (and co-starred) by Justin Baldoni, who plays Ryle. He acquired the film rights from Hoover in 2019, before the novel found its fervent audience on TikTok. “Lucky, or maybe providence,” he told Varietyat Tuesday’s premiere. While he initially optioned the film as a smaller indie production, Sony made it a blockbuster.
For audience members who haven’t read the book, “It Ends With Us” feels nearly like two movies. If the film lulls viewers into submission by steaming ahead as an indulgent romance, its devastating turn into violence asks viewers to question all they’ve already seen—even their own judgment. Baldoni says that’s the point.
“It’s just a reflection of life,” he toldVariety. “We spent a lot of time talking to survivors to make sure we got this story right, that we made it truthful. Time and time again, what I learned is that when these relationships start out, they start out perfect. Romance and love and great sex. We wanted to honor the real-life experiences of these women,” he said.
Bloom is an unreliable narrator of her life (and she says as much in the film, in a line ad-libbed by Lively). The audience experiences her picture-perfect romance with Ryle as she does. The clothes are beautiful. Everyone is affluent and hot. The film doesn’t turn—doesn’t reveal the dark-side of Bloom and Ryle’s relationship—until Bloom herself realizes it. While many criticized the book for romanticizing domestic abuse, Baldoni says staying within Bloom’s perspective helps the audience to understand her choices and trauma.
“At the end of the film, the audience catches up to Lily just as she can no longer escape her reality any more,” Baldoni toldVariety. “We made the movie that way to honor all the women who are going through this. I want them to see themselves on the screen, to go home and make a phone call to their best friend. To say they need help.”
“It Ends With Us” concludes just as Hoover’s 2022 sequel, “It Starts With Us,” begins. At the premiere, Hoover, who said she fielded a group of fans to focus-group the screenplay throughout its development, toldVarietythat it wasn’t up to her whether a movie sequel is made (and that she had to check with her lawyer).
“If they want to make another movie, I’m all for it,” she toldVariety.“They’ve done such a good job with this first one.”
Baldoni was tight-lipped about continuing the franchise, too. “I can’t speak to that,” he said. “But my only hope is that people feel deeply when they see it, and they tell their friends, and god-willing the finances will follow.”
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