Justin Baldoni On Directing ‘It Ends With Us’ Sequel: “There Are Better People For That One, I Think Blake Lively’s Ready To Direct”
- Justin Baldoni is distancing himself from directing a sequel to "It Ends With Us" and suggests Blake Lively is ready to take on the role.
Justin Baldoni wants to pass on the It Ends With Us directing torch to his co-star Blake Lively.
Amid rumored behind-the-scenes drama between the cast and Baldoni, the star and director of the Colleen Hoover novel is distancing himself from directing a sequel.
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“I think there are better people for that one,” the Jane the Virgin alum told Entertainment Tonight about directing a film sequel. “I think Blake Lively’s ready to direct. That’s what I think.”
It Ends With Us is an adaptation of the 2016 Colleen Hoover novel of the same name. The film, directed by Baldoni from a screenplay by Christy Hall, follows Lively’s Lily Bloom, a recent college graduate who moves to Boston to start a new chapter in her life. When Lily meets Baldoni’s Ryle Kincaid, a neurosurgeon finishing his residency there, the two gravitate toward each other.
Although Ryle doesn’t want a relationship, his attraction to Lily makes her the exception to his rule. Their relationship is threatened when Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan (played by Brandon Sklenar), returns to her life.
RELATED: Everything We Know About ‘It Ends With Us’ So Far
Previews for It Ends With Us have banked the film $7M in the U.S. with an estimated $40M+ opening weekend. The drama has been banned in Qatar due to kissing scenes , and rumors about behind-the-scenes drama have taken over social media chatter.
Although Baldoni is the director and star of the film, there are no photos of him with his co-stars at the premiere, such as Lively, Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate, and Isabela Ferrer. This has driven social media users to speculate about a possible feud among the cast.
At the film’s premiere, Baldoni told ET , “This isn’t my night— this is a night for all the women who we made this movie for. This is a night for Blake, this is a night for Colleen. I’m just so grateful that we’re here, five years in the making.”
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