A lengthy voice memo Justin Baldoni sent Blake Lively at 2 a.m. — purportedly sometime in the spring of 2023 during pre-production of their film It Ends With Us — is the latest piece of communication to find its way to the media in the ongoing legal saga.
The voice memo, lasting more than six minutes, paints a picture of an empathetic director trying to smooth over any hurt feelings Lively felt regarding his response to her suggested rewrites of a key opening scene by apologizing profusely. Yet Baldoni’s own lawsuit suggests he wasn’t feeling so apologetic at the time of the call.
The voice memo was obtained first by The Daily Mail, accompanied by a story stating it was tied to the back-and-forth over the rewrite. While that would seem to be the case, there is no way for The Hollywood Reporter to verify when Baldoni sent Lively the recording.
It also remains a mystery how the voice memo made its way to the media. Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman hasn’t been shy about taking credit for leaking emails and footage, but in this instance is staying mum. Lively’s team went on the record with THR in saying “we did not provide the recording to any outlet, including the Daily Mail.”
“I’m really sorry I fucked up,” Baldoni says in the voice memo. That is a fail on my part. One thing you should know about me is I will admit and apologize when I fail. I am far from perfect. I’m a very flawed man, as my wife will attest, and I’m going to fuck up. I’m going to say the wrong thing. I’m going to put my foot in my mouth,” Baldoni can be heard saying. “I’m going to piss you off probably, but I will always apologize and find my way back to center. That is one thing I can assure you of. I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”
Yet Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, reveals that Baldoni was reluctant from the beginning to let Lively take a pass at rewriting the scene and felt pressured to accept the changes after the actress invoked her husband’s name and friend Taylor Swift in saying how much they liked what she had done.
“The draft of the rooftop scene that Lively sent Baldoni dramatically differed from what had been written originally,” states his lawsuit, which was filed Jan. 16 in federal court in New York days after Lively filed her own lawsuit in the same court accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on the set of the film and later of launching a post-release smear campaign. “Baldoni was hesitant about many of the changes, but thanked Lively for her passion and diplomatically told her that the scene would likely end up being somewhere between the original version and Lively’s version.”
The suit goes on to say that Lively, who was apparently “stung” by his suggestion, went silent for several days before sending Baldoni an email saying his comments about meeting somewhere in the middle “didn’t feel so great for me.” She also recounted in the lengthy email how she’d felt stymied in the past by other filmmakers in terms of her creative suggestions.
Baldoni, addressing her past experiences, says in the voice memo, “I am so sorry you have been through what you’ve been through with these other filmmakers and producers or whoever the people were that you worked with. It just pissed me off. Those fuckheads. I’m just still blown away that this is the industry that we’re in and that what you’ve experienced that as a woman. And I know I don’t need to say it, but that’s not at all going to be, or hopefully has been, the experience with me.”
He also says in the voice memo it’s amazing that she has such good friends as her husband and Swift, whom she calls her “dragons.” Yet in his lawsuit, he says he felt threatened at the time to accept the changes. “The message could not have been clearer. Baldoni was not just dealing with Lively. He was also facing Lively’s ‘dragons,’ two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world, who were not afraid to make things very difficult for him,” states the suit.
Toward the end of Baldoni’s voicemail, he says, “I have to much more to say but I’m going to stop rambling because, Jesus Christ, it’s been six minutes and 30 seconds, so fuck me. I’m sorry. You probably have kids all over you and a baby on your boob and you’re listening to me ramble at two in the morning. I hope you’re feeling better and give Ryan my love.”
Read the voice mail in full below.
Hey, Blake it is 2 in the morning. Hopefully this does not wake you up. Whew. Wow. There’s so much I want to say to you and I hope that we can FaceTime or see each other in person soon, and get to talk more. But I’m just going to send you a few thoughts and hopefully it’s not going to be more than a few minutes but I don’t have the best track record — I don’t think either one of us have the best track record for our voice memos. I want to start with an apology. Man, reading the second part of your message, my heart sank. I’m really sorry.
I for sure fell short and you worked really hard on that and the way you framed it and how that made you feel. I just want to say thank you for sharing that with me. That takes a lot of trust and vulnerability and I feel really grateful that you feel safe enough to tell me that that’s how you feel and share that with me. I’m really sorry. I fucked up. That was a fail on my part.
One thing you should know about me: I will admit and apologize when I fail. I am far from perfect. I am a flawed man, as my wife will attest. And I’m going to fuck up. I’m going to say the wrong thing. I’m going to put my foot in my mouth. I’m going to piss you off, probably, but I will always apologize and find my way back to center. That is one thing I can assure you of. I’m sorry I made you feel that way. That must’ve felt terrible and I will for sure do better. That was not my best weekend and I should have given it more time.
And damn right, you got great friends. If that’s how you felt and they knew that — and fuck!— we should all have friends like that. Aside from the fact that they’re two of the most creative people on the planet, the three of you guys together is unbelievable. Talk about energy — force — all three of you, but I just wanted you to know that I didn’t need that because it’s really good and it’s going to make the movie sing like you said, and I’m excited to go through the whole movie with you. I’m just excited to spend time with you. I’m excited to be in your sphere and your presence and for us to share creative juices together. Although that sounds terrible.
I think you and I have been trying to build a relationship, which I think we’ve done successfully. I mean here we are — talking like this — me into my phone at two in the morning, but largely via text and voice note. And I will be honest with you, that is not my biggest strength. I love being with people and being in somebody’s, in somebody’s space and being face to face and I feel like that’s where I excel and definitely fallen short at times in our text and voice note exchanges so much to communicate and there’s so much happening and all that to say, I’m just really looking forward to spending time together and I think that’s going to really go a long way for our chemistry, which I believe is there — has been there from the start. So I was stoked, damn excited when you wanted to do this film.
I felt it in the room when we met and, yeah, I think it does come from both of us being so fucking hardworking and having a vision and not settling, and I’m excited to have a creative partner in that with you. And it’s just really exciting. There’s so much more to say. There’s so much I want to say. Oh, and there’s one thing that I do need to say, which is I am so sorry you have been through what you’ve been through with these other filmmakers and producers or whoever the people were that you worked with. It just pissed me off. Those fuckheads. I’m just still blown away that this is the industry that we’re in and that you’ve experienced that as a woman. And I know I don’t need to say it, but that’s not at all going to be, or will be, and hopefully it’s not been the experience with me.
There’s nothing more exciting to me that I get to work with Blake Lively and have her all of her. I mean, that’s what I want. And so there’s been no hesitancy with me sending you the Final Draft file. I am totally fine with that. The only reason I didn’t send it today was because I was trying to implement and add your notes into my working draft, which is already, I’m all over that draft right now. So there’s a whole bunch of new stars that are going to be collated pages and I just haven’t had a chance to send it to you, but there’s no hesitancy. I’m happy to send it to you and I’m sorry that that has happened to you before and I hope after this experience there will be a new, I dunno, I hope it’ll be healing in some way because that’s all I want.
I want this movie to be healing. I want this movie to be commercial just like you and affect people and touch people. And I want to walk you through my whole plan and the work that we’re doing with the domestic violence partner that we found, No More. And just my vision. And I just know that this can be really, really special and it’s going to be special. And you’re the secret sauce and we are the secret sauce. And anyways, I have so much more to say. I’m going to stop rambling, because Jesus Christ, it’s been six minutes and 30 seconds, so fuck me. I’m sorry. You probably have kids all over you and a baby on your boob and you’re listening to me ramble at two in the morning. I hope you’re feeling better, and give Ryan my love.
Thank you for sending me, that means the world to me, that you trust me with your feelings and your thoughts like that. And I can’t wait to spend more time with you. Okay, I’m cutting myself off. Goodnight.
English (US) ·