Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively‘s cast and crew agree there’s conflict between the “It Ends With Us” costars — but we’ve learned he’s not the clear-cut villain, as some people who worked on the film are standing with Justin.
Production sources tell TMZ … JB, who directed and co-starred in the romantic drama, is actually viewed quite favorably by a lot of the crew, as he was generally a nice guy to work with and cared a lot about the production.
Despite reports the cast and crew are rallying around Blake in the feud with Justin over creative differences … we’re told that’s an overstatement.
Our sources say the truth is more like civil war — there are definitely people siding with Blake, but there are also those who feel like Justin got screwed. While he’s gone solo on the press tour promoting ‘It Ends’ … we’re told several people on the crew understand why.
For instance, Blake — who produced the flick — did hire her own editor and had her hubby Ryan Reynolds do last-minute rewrites on the script, even though this was supposed to be Justin’s project.
MAY 2023
We’re told the creative struggle was obvious, at times, on set — as we showed you one animated convo between Blake and Justin was captured by bystanders during filming.
The sources we spoke to felt Blake was eager to be seen as a creator, and that’s why she tried to seize creative control of the film from Justin.
We’re also told he’s over the drama and looking to put it all in his rearview — which is why he suggested last week Blake should direct the sequel.
As for all the stories about the on-set beef … one source says cast members are milking the drama by design. It’s called marketing.
The source pointed to similar buzz 2 years ago about director Olivia Wilde and her “Don’t Worry Darling” stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles feuding — and that movie earned nearly $90 million at the box office.
We’ve reached out to Justin and Blake’s reps for comment … so far, no word back.
