It Ends With Us director-star Justin Baldoni‘s $400-million lawsuit against Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, alleges that the filmmaker was “humiliated” after reportedly “being held” in a basement at the project’s premiere in an alleged effort to separate him from the movie’s lead actress.
According to Baldoni’s legal complaint — obtained Thursday by Entertainment Weekly — the Jane the Virgin actor participated in the film’s Aug. 6 premiere despite, as the documents allege, being “informed that Lively demanded he not attend” the event. The complaint alleges that Baldoni ultimately went under “demeaning and humiliating conditions,” and shared photos of him and his guests reportedly held in a basement containing concession items for the theater above.
The complaint also alleges that Baldoni and his guests were “relegated to a separate theater” after conducting separate interviews on the red carpet ahead of Lively’s arrival. Once the actress arrived, the complaint claims, Baldoni’s “time on the red carpet was abruptly cut short” and he was “instructed to stop immediately.” Baldoni was then allegedly “confined to a makeshift holding area surrounded by concession stand stock, with only foldout tables and chairs arranged in a square.”
Related: Justin Baldoni’s lawyer claims Ryan Reynolds mocks actor in Deadpool & Wolverine: ‘No question’
Photos contained within the complaint show Baldoni and his guests smiling and posing for photos at tables topped with bags of popcorn, as well as in front of stacks of water bottles and plastic soft drink containers.
In addition to filing the suit, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, released a statement elaborating on the complaints contained within, which he claimed outlined Lively and her team’s “duplicitous attempt to destroy” Baldoni with false claims.
Baldoni’s suit follows Lively filing her own lawsuit against him and his film company, Wayfarer. Lively initially registered a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in December, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on the It Ends With Us set and orchestrating a subsequent smear campaign against her, as first reported by The New York Times. Baldoni later filed a defamation lawsuit against the publication — the same day that Lively filed a federal lawsuit against Baldoni and his team in New York.
John Nacion/Getty
Justin Baldoni at the ‘It Ends With Us’ premiere
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Freedman also sent a litigation hold letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel president Kevin Feige to preserve any correspondence related to the development of the character Nicepool in Reynolds’ Deadpool & Wolverine movie, amid speculation that the character was based on Baldoni.
EW has reached out to representatives for Lively and Sony for comment.
Outside of the legal battle between Lively — also a producer on the project, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name — and Baldoni, It Ends With Us grossed over $351 million at the global box office and received positive critical reviews from movie critics.
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