Justin Baldoni DRAGS Taylor Swift into Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds Lawsuit _ E! News
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00:00Justin Baldoni is bringing Taylor Swift into his legal battle.
00:05The Grammy winner appears to be mentioned in the $400 million counter-suit filed by
00:10Justin January 16th against his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively and her husband Ryan
00:17Reynolds, as well as publicist Leslie Sloan.
00:21Justin's filing, submitted to the Southern District of New York Court, comes nearly a
00:25month after Blake sued him for allegedly sexually harassing her on the set of the 2024
00:31movie.
00:32In the counter-suit, the director alleges that he felt pressure from Ryan and Blake's
00:36quote, mega-celebrity friend, to let the Gossip Girl alum take more ownership of the film's
00:42script, including making edits to the significant rooftop scene where Blake and Justin's characters
00:48first meet.
00:49Justin says in the docs that Blake's version quote, dramatically differed from what had
00:53been written originally, but that he thanked Lively for her passion and diplomatically
00:58told her that the scene would likely end up being somewhere between the original version
01:03and Lively's version.
01:05The 40-year-old then seemingly confirms that Taylor was the previously referenced mega-celebrity
01:10friend of Blake and Ryan's in screenshots of texts included in the lawsuit.
01:15With Justin messaging Blake,
01:17Working on rooftop scene today, I really love what you did.
01:21It really does help a lot, makes it so much more fun and interesting.
01:26And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor.
01:30You really are a talent across the board.
01:33Really excited and grateful to do this together.
01:36In additional screenshots of their conversation, Blake appears to refer to her husband and
01:40pop star BFF as her quote, most trusted partners, telling Justin that she felt confident sending
01:47her edited version of the script to him because they had already signed off on it.
01:51The mom of four who shares daughters James, Inez and Betty, as well as son Olin with the
01:57Deadpool actor, then divulges to Justin that Ryan and Taylor have encouraged her to be
02:02more assertive, writing,
02:04They also know I'm not always as good at making sure I'm seen and utilized for fear of threatening
02:10egos or fear of affecting the ease of process.
02:14They don't give a **** about that.
02:16And because of that, everyone listens to them with immense respect and enthusiasm.
02:21Blake then compares herself to the Game of Thrones character, the Dragon Queen herself,
02:26Khaleesi, saying in one of her texts to Justin,
02:30If you ever get around to watching Game of Thrones, you'll appreciate that I'm Khaleesi.
02:35And like her, I happen to have a few dragons.
02:38For better or worse, but usually for better, because my dragons also protect those I fight
02:43for.
02:44So really, we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine.
02:49Justin alleges in the docs that he felt the quote, message could not have been clearer
02:54and that he was not only dealing with Lively, but would also be facing Lively's dragons,
02:59two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world who were not afraid to make things
03:05very difficult for him.
03:07Going on to state that describing the situation as difficult turned out to be a gross understatement,
03:13adding that Blake quote, began altering the script daily, which caused issues with the
03:18shooting schedule and placed significant stress on the production crew, as well as financial
03:23strain on his production company Wayfarer, the studio behind the film.
03:28E! News has reached out to reps for Blake, Ryan and Taylor, but hasn't yet heard back.