Acting or Harassing? Stars are confused about out-takes

Actor and director Justin Baldoni has released out-takes of a romantic scene from his film It End’s With Us, which he says is proof that his co-star Blake Lively’s sexual assault allegations are baseless. Are.

However, he has responded by saying that the footage of the pair filming the slow dance is “damaging” and corroborates his claims.

The two stars played a couple in the hit film last year, but have since become embroiled in an increasingly bitter legal battle.

Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, 40, in December, accusing him of engaging in “inappropriate and unwanted behavior” and carrying out a smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation. She hit back last week, claiming he had made a “double attempt to destroy” her.

On Tuesday, Baldoni’s team released nearly 10 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage to outlets including daily Mail And Diversity,

It consists of three takes of a scene set in a bar, and begins with a caption stating that they “categorically deny” Lively’s allegations of inappropriate behavior, and thank both actors for ” clearly within sight and behaving well with mutual respect and professionalism”. ,

Lively’s lawyers said it showed he was “repeatedly leaning toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth on her neck, caressing her lips with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking to her out of character”.

He said, “Each moment was improvised by Mr. Baldoni without any discussion or consent in advance, and without any intimacy coordinator present”.

“Any woman who has been touched inappropriately in the workplace will identify with Ms Lively’s plight.

“They will recognize her lighthearted efforts to avoid unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by her employer without her consent.”

He claimed that the release of the video was “yet another example of an unethical attempt to trick the public”.

Baldoni’s lawyer told hollywood reporter His client was exercising “his right to publicly defend himself by presenting actual facts and evidence”.

He said, “Ms. Lively wants very different standards applied to her but fortunately, truth and authenticity apply to everyone and can never be wrong.”

Lively’s lawsuit cited the scene as an example of how Baldoni “ignored well-established industry protocols in filming intimate scenes, and took advantage of the lack of control on the set to behave inappropriately”.

His legal documents said he was not speaking properly and no voice was recorded.

“At one point, he leaned forward and slowly trailed his lips from her ear to her neck, saying, ‘This smells great.’

“None of this was remotely in character, or based on any dialogue in the script, and nothing needed to be said because, again, there was no voice – Mr. Baldoni telling Ms. Lively through his mouth. They were caressing in a way that had nothing to do with their roles.

“When Ms. Lively later objected to this behavior, Mr. Baldoni’s response was, ‘I’m not even attracted to you.'”

Her legal documents state that Lively was “unable to take consistent direction” and that she “insisted” that she wanted the characters to talk constantly, which he disagreed with.

When he “tried to encourage her to take her own direction”, Baldoni offered that he and his wife often silently looked into each other’s eyes, to which she responded, ‘Like a sociopath’ and laughed. “

Lively “continued to argue” and “continued to break character”, which was “extremely confusing to Baldoni”.

He said Lively had apologized for the smell of her spray tan and body makeup. ” Baldoni responded, ‘It smells good,’ and continued acting, dancing in slow motion as he believed his character would with his partner, which required some amount of physical touch. Is required.”

Baldoni’s nose was mocked animatedly and he was told he should get plastic surgery, he said.

Their documents state, “Any suggestion that this scene was filmed by Baldoni in any way other than pure professionalism is clearly refuted with actual evidence.”

“His allegation of sexual harassment is a documented and deliberately fabricated lie.”

Lively and Baldoni, who was also the film’s director, were slow dancing in a bar and their audio was recorded. After an initial exchange, in which she questions whether they are in the right position, they dance and smile quietly.

He kisses her forehead, then her lips, before she visibly hesitates and they continue to dance. She is then seen turning her head bringing their faces together and he kisses her cheeks.

She tells him: “I think we should talk. I think it’s more romantic if we dance and talk.” He agrees and says, “The whole montage we’re talking about”.

She adds: “Because it’s like in that moment when they kiss, that’s when you give them what they want to see.”

He replies: “So almost kissing is good too.” She replies: “Yes. But we’re still talking.”

They continue to dance, laugh and discuss the scene affectionately. He squeezes her neck. She tells him that talking is “more romantic”. He says he was “just lost” and “has no problem talking most of the time” because in slow motion the audience “will never know (what’s) being said”.

He tells her, “I know you and Ryan (Reynolds, her husband) talk all the time”, but he and his wife Emily love to stare at each other, joking that “you have to It will look scary.” She laughs and jokes that “I would be like, ‘Oh no, I found a sociopath'”.

He asks the camera operator to film their lips “very close”, to which she agrees, but also says that they should “start the conversation” and “don’t give them this (kiss)”. He agrees that they should “exercise restraint”.

They keep dancing with their foreheads and noses touching, to which she starts laughing because she feels “too nasal”. He jokes that “my nose is too big” and she laughs that the film will “have to stop” and “deal with that”, adding: “Just kidding.”

In the next take, he is seen kissing her neck and then says, “Am I shaving you today?” She laughs and replies: “Maybe I’m causing you to get a spray tan.” He caresses the other side of her neck and says: “It smells good”. She adds, “Well, it’s not like that, it’s the makeup of my body.” They continue dancing and he yells cut.

Her legs and body are visible while dancing in the third take. The opening caption states, “These three scenes were filmed in sequence”.