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Justin Baldoni accused Blake Lively of demanding he be removed from all film posters and stripped of his ‘a film by’ credit following production on It Ends With Us, In Touch has learned.
Justin, 41, and his company, Wayfarer Studios, dropped the bombshell as part of the amended lawsuit against Blake, 37, and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, over alleged civil extortion and defamation.
The legal battle started when Blake sued Justin over alleged sexual harassment on set of the 2024 film.
She claimed he showed up uninvited in her trailer, spoke inappropriately about sex on set, improvised unwanted contact during filming and made her uncomfortable.
Blake believes Justin hired a crisis PR team to smear her publicly in retaliation for her complaints about his behavior. Justin denied all claims of sexual harassment.
He presented an alleged text showing Blake had invited him into her trailer on at least once occasion and accused her of refusing to meet with the intimacy coordinator before the film shoot.
Justin denied he hired a crisis PR team to smear Blake but accused the actress of smearing him in the press. He also claimed her and Ryan, 48, used their power in Hollywood to take control of It Ends With Us.
Justin claimed Blake fired his team of editors and cut her own version of the film. He said Sony agreed to release her cut despite his cut testing higher with test audiences.
The director also said Blake had him segregated from the cast and crew at the film’s premiere. Now, Justin revealed additional details of the alleged lengths Blake went to ice him out of the promotion.
At one point, Justin claimed Blake “continued to extort” him and his company, and “even Sony, threatening to abandon her contractual obligation to promote the film or approve marketing materials if she wasn’t awarded a producer credit, and through [Justin’s company] had refused long ago to accede to this request when it was made during initial negotiations.”
Later, he claimed Blake demanded “the coveted p.g.a. mark on her producer credit — a certified designation licensed by the Producers Guild of America to identify producers who have performed the majority of the producing work” on a film. Justin said he initially refused to write a letter in support of Blake being awarded the p.g.a. mark, which he claims led to her telling Sony to tell him that “any good will left between us is done.”
Justin claimed he eventually wrote a letter “in the fact of persistent threats and extortion.”
Around April 2024, Justin said his production partner was informed that Blake told Sony’s marketing team that she would refuse to approve trailers, TV spots and digital marketing assets if Justin’s acting credit appeared alongside hers.
Sony Marketing allegedly cited Blake’s contractual approval rights over her image and likeness in promotional materials and warned Justin’s partner that she could effectively block the release of “almost every piece of promotional content featuring her face or name — essentially all of it.”
Justin included an alleged email from a Sony marketing team member dated April 30, 2024.
The alleged email read, “I’m helping [redacted] tie up some loose ends as we near the launch of our trailer. I know [redacted] mentioned this to Jamey [Justin’s producing partner], but I wanted to follow up with you regarding waiving your name/actor credit (before or above title) for A?V assets including trailer and related trailer assets, TV ads and related digital marketing. Can you please confirm that you are okay with us to proceed as discussed?”
Justin said after being faced with Blake’s “leverage,” he agreed to remove his name from the “before or above title” credit in trailers and related marketing cutdowns.”
He said this “concession” was “yet another clear example of [Blake’s] ongoing effort to diminish [his] presence and influence on the project.”
In addition, Justin alleged that as the premiere of the film approached, Blake “made good on her promise and instructed Sony that she and the cast would not participate in any marketing or promotion of the film alongside” Justin, in spite of “Justin and Wayfarer’s acquiescence to all her demands.”
“She made certain that Baldoni was removed from all artwork for the film (posters included) and stripped him of his ‘A Film By’ credit,” the suit read.
His lawyer said on June 18, 2024, Sony requested that Justin’s “Film By” credit be removed from the film’s poster — “a move that reinforces [Blake’s] wholesale erasure of his contributions, as a request of this nature would have no meaning to Sony; it is clearly instigated by [Blake].”
Blake and Ryan’s lawyers said they plan to move to dismiss Justin’s lawsuit. Both cases are ongoing. A judge set a trial date of March 2026.
English (US) ·