What Blake Lively's lawsuit says vs. what is seen in BTS footage of It Ends With Us dance montage: A comparison

There has been a recent development in the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni concerning Lively's claims of s*xual harassment while filming It Ends With Us. On January 21, 2025, Justin Baldoni's team dropped the footage of a specific scene from the movie, aiming to refute Lively's claims from the lawsuit.

One of the claims in the actress' lawsuit mentioned that Lively opposed Baldoni's conduct during the filming of a sequence featuring a slow dance between the two. Blake Lively's lawsuit claimed that Justin Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good.'”

The footage of the scene's recording displays a title card reading:

“Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism."

Additionally, the footage shows that while Justin Baldoni did say "it smells good," the context of it was that Lively tells him that she's probably getting her spray tan on him. After Baldoni complimented the smell of the spray tan, Blake Lively corrected him by saying that the smell was from her body makeup.

According to a report by Variety dated January 21, 2025, the footage released by Justin Baldoni showcases the co-stars disagreeing on how to showcase the intimacy of the scene in question. It also shows that at one point Baldoni leans in for a kiss, and the actress hesitates, stating that they should be talking, and that the scene would look more romantic if they were dancing and talking.

At that point, Justin Baldoni compared their personal relationships and said that while Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds indulge in conversations, he and his wife Emily just stare at each other sometimes, adding that Lively "would find it terrifying". In the footage, Lively says that she'd think she found a sociopath if something like that happened to her.

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Blake Lively's legal team states footage released by Justin Baldoni corroborates actress' claims

According to multiple sources, Blake Lively's legal team representing the actress in her case for violation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act and the California Civil Code as well as s*xual harassment, commented on the footage released by Justin Baldoni. The actress' legal team mentioned on January 21, 2025, that the footage "corroborates, to the letter what Ms. Lively described" in her claims.

In a statement to E! News on January 21, 2025, Lively's legal team said that Justin Baldoni and his lawyer might think that releasing the raw footage will "get ahead of the damaging evidence against him", however, the footage itself is damaging. The attorneys added:

“The video shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character."

Lively's attorneys further added that any woman who has experienced inappropriate touch in the workplace will recognize the actress' discomfort in the footage. The Savages actress' lawyers said that women will recognize Blake Lively's attempts to block the unwanted touching, and that "no woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.”

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Justin Baldoni's legal team released three takes from the particular slow-motion sequence, declaring that those takes were the entirety of the footage shot for the scene. Additionally, Lively claimed that every moment of the scene in question was improvised by Justin Baldoni without the presence of an intimacy coordinator, or any discussion of taking consent in advance.