What Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni Said About Using Intimacy Coordinators: ‘Critical for Everyone’s Safety’

Without intimacy coordinators, director-star Justin Baldoni stated that “there was no way we could” make “It Ends With Us.”

In separate interviews, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni discussed their experiences working with intimacy coordinators while filming It Ends With Us.

In the movie, which is based on Colleen Hoover’s 2016 best-selling novel, the cast portrays a fast-paced relationship that degenerates into one that is abusive and toxic.

According to Harper’s Bazaar India, director Baldoni stated that the film crew “knew from the very beginning that there was no way we could do this movie without intimacy coordinators,” along with stunt coordinators. Chelsea Cary and Lizzy Talbot are credited as intimacy coordinators on the project.

In addition to making everyone feel safe, Baldoni, 40, said, “It was so important to have them on set — not just because they were incredible collaborators with wonderful ideas that really elevated the film.”

“I could always look to one of them for a thumbs up, or we’d work on another approach together, so having them on set and in my line of sight was invaluable,” Baldoni remarked. “They played a crucial and essential role in our process.”

Lively, 36, who is also a producer, told Digital Spy that having an intimacy coordinator on set was the “critical” element.

“You plan the dancing and the stunts.” It’s a choreography. “This is what happens here, here and here” in a stunt and “This is what happens here, here and here” in a dance, but then saying, “Now you guys just go put your bodies together and your mouths and whatever, and action and cut,” is absurd. I believe that everyone’s safety depends on being choreographed.

Baldoni told The Hollywood Reporter during the movie’s New York City premiere that it was “very hard for me” to act out the scenes that featured domestic abuse.

Because it’s too real, he said, “there were many times when I would have to go into a private room and just cry or shake it out and try to get him out of me and that energy out of me.” “I wanted it to be as realistic as possible, but it was really difficult to shoot those scenes because there are too many real-life Lily Blooms in the world who deal with that every single day.”

In those scenes, Baldoni also deferred to costar Lively and their “incredible” female coordinators, he told the outlet.

Since I had to play Ryle, the three women were actually in charge of choreographing and directing all of those scenes. “To be completely honest, those women were in charge at the time, and I wasn’t the director at all,” he said.

“I wanted all of the intimate scenes to be from a female gaze from the beginning, and I never wanted my bias to potentially break through and enter the film,” Baldoni continued. “I took a step back, felt everything, let myself do the work, and tried to shake it off as best I could.”

In a recent Instagram Story post, Lively thanked her followers for supporting the film’s message and provided resources for victims of domestic abuse.

“The story of the female experience is told in It Ends With Us. The greatest peaks and the lowest valleys. And we’re really proud of it,” she added. “We have been celebrating this movie and spreading a very important message to the general public.”

“Thank you everyone for accepting It Ends With Us with the same love, pain, and joy we had sharing it with you all,” Lively continued.

A source told PEOPLE that the tension extends beyond artistic disagreements, following reports of a rift among the main It Ends With Us cast and a noticeable distance between Lively and Baldoni, who did not appear together during the press tour. “Not everything is as it seems. This is just one side of the story. The source claimed that Colleen Hoover and the main cast would not be involved with Baldoni.

Now showing in theaters is It Ends With Us.