Resurfaced Video Shows Blake Lively Screening Alleged Rough Cut of ‘It Ends With Us’

Blake Lively introduced an alleged rough cut of It Ends With Us at Colleen Hoover’s Book Bonanza in 2024.

Footage from the book convention has resurfaced online, showing Lively, 37, introducing an alleged unfinished version of the movie — directed by Justin Baldoni — to an audience of dedicated fans on June 15, 2024, in Grapevine, Texas.

“Literally this is not a bit, it’s literally not done,” Lively said of the movie in the footage. “To be honest, what really happened is we were like, ‘We’re going to show the movie,’ and the studio was like, ‘No, no, you’re going to show 20 minutes.’ We’re like, ‘No, we’re going to show the movie,’ and they’re like, ‘It’s not done.’ And I was like, ‘They don’t f—ing care,’” which was met with cheers from the crowd.

It Ends With Us was adapted to film by Sony Pictures and Wayfarer Studios, which was cofounded by Baldoni, 41.

“They were like, ‘If everything’s not perfect and it’s not done and what if we’re going to change things…,’” Lively said at the time, via the online video. “I was like, ‘These are the people who authored the success of the book. You guys are what matter, you guys seeing the movie is so important to us.”

Hoover, the author of the It Ends With Us novel, was present at the screening as well, saying in the footage, “It is an early, early cut.”

“We’re so excited,” the author continued. “You know, bussing 2,000 people to a movie theater sounds like a chaotic nightmare, so I just need you all to be excited and patient. This is a huge honor. We want it to go well.”

Lively added: “I literally brought the movie on an airplane. I have a folder and a disc, like a hard drive.” The actress also took the time to highlight a pair of jeans Hoover had supposedly complimented her on.

“The funny thing is, I have the cutest jeans ever I’m wearing tomorrow night,” Lively said. “Not sponsored, but they’re really, really cute and they’ve got flowers on them and they’re cut out. Colleen saw my jeans and she was inspired ‘cause she loves me and she [also] got these cute flower jeans. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to be jean influencers.’”

Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni in December 2024, accusing the director of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment on the set of It Ends With Us. Baldoni has denied the allegations. He filed his own $400 million lawsuit against Lively, her publicist Leslie Sloan and Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds, accusing the trio of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy and more.

“This latest lawsuit from Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and its associates is another chapter in the abuser playbook. This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim,” Lively’s lawyers told Us Weekly in a statement responding to Baldoni’s lawsuit.

Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told Us in a statement: “This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.”

Baldoni’s filing made several claims against Lively. Among them was that she had allegedly not read It Ends With Us, and her lack of knowledge of the source material caused issues during filming.

“At one point, Lively insisted that her character ‘had money’ and could afford $5,000 shoes — despite being a fledgling small business owner,” the lawsuit states. “This forced Baldoni to rethink the entire script that had been in the works for well over a year and was approved by both Sony and Wayfarer [Studios]. … The wardrobe budget ballooned.”

Lively and Reynolds, 48, informed a federal judge on Thursday, January 30, that they would move to dismiss the lawsuit filed against them by Baldoni. Each side’s lawyers are set to appear in court on Monday, February 3, in the case’s first hearing.

Us reached out to representatives for both Lively and Baldoni for comment.