How Blake Lively Helped Brandon Sklenar Score ‘The Housemaid’ Role After ‘It Ends With Us’

Brandon Sklenar can thank his It Ends With Us costar Blake Lively for his role in the upcoming adaptation of The Housemaid.

“I was a huge fan of Sydney [Sweeney before we shot The Housemaid]. Have you ever seen the movie Reality that she did? Unbelievable, and I was just, like, ‘I have to work with her,” director Paul Feig said on the Thursday, May 1, episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast of casting the new flick. “I had met Amanda Seyfried years before. We had drinks together … to have a general meeting, and we really hit it off.”

While both Sweeney, 27, and Seyfried, 39, immediately came to Feig’s mind when he was casting The Housemaid, it admittedly took a bit longer to find the leading man.

“Blake had just worked with Brandon on It Ends With Us, and she was still in the middle of shooting all that stuff when we were doing [Another] Simple Favor,” Feig, 62, recalled, referring to Lively’s sequel film with Anna Kendrick. “They [were] doing reshoots and she was like, ‘I’m working with this guy and he’s so amazing. You’ve got to meet Brandon.’”

Feig subsequently invited Sklenar, 34, out to lunch to discuss the role.

“Within 30 seconds, I’m, like, jelly,” Feig quipped to podcast host Josh Horowitz. “[He’s] the most charismatic guy you’ve ever met in your life and so talented. There’s a thrill of working with people you’ve worked with before because you know how to play with what they do, but there’s a real thrill about working with somebody new for the first time, especially when they’re delightful.”

The Housemaid, based on Frieda McFadden’s 2022 novel of the same name, follows a homeless woman named Millie when she’s hired to be the housekeeper for a wealthy family. The story takes a turn when Millie soon notices that her married employers often act erratically and display demanding behavior behind closed doors.

Despite the serious subject matter and a “really short” filming schedule, Seyfried, Sweeney and Sklenar all eagerly dove into the production process.

“We had, like, a 34-day schedule and over 200 scenes in the movie,” Feig noted. “I was like, ‘This is going to be tough,’ and they were just like, ‘Cool, we’re in.’ Man, they just nailed it every time and gave me options and different things. I can’t wait for you to see it — and it’s going to be theatrical. It’s going to be on the big screen.”