Fans of BookTok sensation It Ends With Us were initially surprised (some were downright outraged) when Jane The Virgin star Justin Baldoni was announced as leading man Ryle.
The actor, who also directs the movie adaptation, says he wasn’t his first choice for the role but author Colleen Hoover asked him to consider playing the character.
“Colleen (Hoover) had actually emailed me just before we had closed on our option agreement, and asked if I had ever considered acting in the movie and suggested that I consider playing Ryle,” Baldoni tells a group of international journalists, including 9Honey Celebrity. via Zoom.
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“It was her thinking that I could do it that actually gave me the confidence and the freedom to explore it for myself.”
But Baldoni admits it took him “a couple of years” before he decided to take on the role, as they developed the film and decided to age up the characters.
One thing that didn’t take long to figure out was wanting Blake Lively as his leading lady in the movie.
Lively plays Lily Bloom, a character who watches her mum be abused at the hands of her father before unwittingly ending up in the same situation.
“Blake is beloved, she’s approachable and so many women just love her, and I just thought that she would make an incredible Lily,” Baldoni says.
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“So I flew out to meet her, we had a three-hour meeting and at the end of the meeting I just said, ‘You are absolutely Lily, I would love for you to play her’.
“Luckily she signed on and didn’t just sign on as an actress, she signed on as a producer and an executive producer and was a big part of all of the production.”
Lively says taking on both acting and producing roles in the movie made the experience more personal to her.
“I was lucky to be able to be involved in so many different aspects of this movie, not just on screen. On screen is the smallest amount of work that I did in this film, to be honest,” she tells journalists.
“I took the relationships with my mother, or my sisters, or my children and my feelings and, I mean, it’s all over this film in ways that nobody will ever know and I’ll never tell anybody.
“But when I sit in that theater with my loved ones, they see themselves all over this film – moments we’ve had together, things we’ve said to each other – and I think that’s why I feel so proud and it’s so personal to me.”
The production, which also stars 1923 Actor Brandon Sklenar, has been a labor of love for Baldoni too.
“It takes so much energy in life to will a movie into existence, that it’s not just a job,” he explains.
“It has to be something that I’m willing to have real sacrifice for in my life. I have two kids – they’re nine and and six-and-a-half.
“It’s been five years trying to get this movie made, and there’s been other movies that have come and offers in between, and this has been my focus.”
The jane the virgin The star says he endured because “I believe the impact of the film could be huge – and I do not mean financially”.
The actor-director optioned Hoover’s book back in 2019, after it had been around for three years already and had “only sold one million copies”.
“There was not the idea that this was going to become some massive global best-selling phenomenon … we thought that it was at the end of its lifecycle,” Baldoni admits.
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“I was just interested in the story and the impact that it had on me reading the book and imagining the impact that it could have on so many watching the film.”
The book, navigating the life of domestic violence and being a survivor, exploded via TikTok’s popular hashtag BookTok in 2021, during the pandemic.
It went on to become a global best-selling phenomenon, which has sold 10 million copies to date.
“It speaks to the reality that so many people face in their lives,” Baldoni says.
Stand-up comedian and actor Jenny Slate, who plays Allysa – who is both Lily’s friend and Ryle’s sister – says the heavy plot of the film didn’t impact things on set.
“I think we cracked jokes, but not because we felt obliged to lighten the mood because I do think like, there’s a lot of the movie that is joyful, that it’s about people trying new things,” Slate says.
“(Lily) has her past and she has her doubts and she has the ways that she’s shut down but day-to-day she’s trying to live.”
And speaking of bringing that character to life on-screen, Baldoni labels it the performance of Lively’s life.
“I’m so grateful that she agreed to (do the movie) ‘because she, I believe – and I’m biased – I believe she gives the performance of her life in this film.”
It Ends With Us is in Australian cinemas now.
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