Justin Baldoni‘s legal team on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) released footage from the set of It Ends With Us, the film at the centre of his ongoing legal battle with co-star Blake Lively, that they say supports his claim that he acted with “respect and professionalism” toward the former Gossip Girl star, who has accused him of sexual harassment.
The video released is nearly 10 minutes of footage during which Lively and Baldoni are seen filming for a slow dance montage that is referenced in both Lively’s initial complaint with the California Civil Rights Department and a later lawsuit, in which she cited specific instances of what she characterised as inappropriate behaviour by Baldoni.
Lively claimed in her December 31 sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni that he “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good,'” a comment the complaint described as not “remotely in character, or based on any dialogue in the script.”
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Her suit alleged that during the filming of the montage, “nothing needed to be said because, again, there was no sound” and that Baldoni was “caressing Ms. Lively with his mouth in a way that had nothing to do with their roles.”
“The following videos captured on May 23, 2023 clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterisation of his behaviour,” a statement that precedes the footage provided by Baldoni’s lawyer this week said.
“The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.”
In the video, Lively and Baldoni are seen slow dancing on a busy set with extras surrounding them.
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They can be heard speaking to each other about how to portray the intimate parts of the scene, with Lively telling Baldoni she thinks it’s more “romantic” for them to appear to be talking instead of kissing.
At one point in the video, Baldoni leans in to Lively and asks, “Am I getting beard on you today?” After Lively laughs and says, “I’m probably getting spray-tan on you,” Baldoni replies that “it smells good”.
The video footage shows three takes of the same scene, but it is unclear how much, if any, footage was filmed that is not included in the clip that Baldoni’s lawyer released. It is also unclear how long Lively and Baldoni were present together on set that day.
In addition to costarring in the film, Baldoni served as director as well as producer through his own company Wayfarer Studios, which financed the film and has access to all footage from it.
Lively’s team released a statement upon the video’s release on Tuesday, saying in part that “every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint”.
“The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognise Ms. Lively’s discomfort. They will recognise her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent,” her statement continued.
Baldoni and Lively have been in a legal battle that began on December 21 when Lively filed her complaint that preceded her civil sexual harassment lawsuit.
In her suit, Lively said that during the filming of It Ends With Us, a meeting was held to address a “hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production” and that she had raised concerns about “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour by Mr. Baldoni.”
Lively’s suit also alleges that Baldoni’s PR representatives orchestrated a “social manipulation” campaign intended to hurt her reputation in the media in retaliation for raising concerns about his on-set behaviour.
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Baldoni has denied Lively’s allegations and filed a $US250 million ($397 million) libel suit against The New York Times on December 31, claiming that the newspaper – who first reported Lively’s civil rights complaint – published an accompanying article that was “rife with inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and omissions” that relied on Lively’s “self-serving narrative”.
Baldoni’s legal representation said on Tuesday that they have plans to set up a website that contains more correspondence and video footage that will discredit Lively’s claims.
Baldoni also filed a $US400 million ($636 million) defamation lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane on January 16.
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