Justin Baldoni files complaint against Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds

Legal showdown continues to erupt over allegations of misconduct during filming of It ends with uswith Justin Baldoni suing Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for orchestrating a campaign to defame him.

Baldoni, in a lawsuit filed Thursday in New York federal court, alleges, among other things, extortion, defamation and breach of contract claims. He is joined by his film studio, Wayfarer, and its general manager Jamey Heath, as well as their public relations representatives, Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. They are demanding at least $400 million.

Also named in the lawsuit: Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and Leslie Sloane, the actresses’ public relations representative at Vision PR, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s attorney, said the lawsuit was “based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s disingenuous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their companies.” respective countries by disseminating new, crudely edited and unsubstantiated information. and falsified information to the media.

He added: “It is clear, given our complete willingness to provide all text messages, emails, video footage and other documentary evidence shared between the parties in real time, that this is a battle that she won’t win and she will. I certainly regret it.

The filing of the suit follows Lively’s pursuit of Baldoni and his public relations team for allegedly carrying out a sophisticated, multi-layered plan to damage her reputation in retaliation for reporting sexual misconduct on the filming of the film. On the same day the lawsuit was filed last month, Baldoni sued The New York Times for allegedly conspiring with Lively’s PR team to advance an “unverified and self-serving narrative” while ignoring evidence that contradicted her claims.

Among the many reasons the legal drama has fascinated Hollywood is the tangled relationships between the main players in the litigation. Shortly after cutting ties with Baldoni, WME – which also represents Lively and her megastar husband Reynolds – released a statement insisting that the married stars had not pressured the agency into doing so. Let it go.

Baldoni challenges WME’s denial and offers a contradictory account of events. He says in the complaint that he “was informed that at the premiere of his film Deadpool and WolverineReynolds approached Baldoni’s agency, namely a WME executive, and expressed his deep disdain for Baldoni, suggesting that the agency was working with a “sexual predator” (a phrase that appeared accidentally in the press) and , later demanded that the agent “drop” him.

This is slightly different from the story of the trial against the Timeswhich stated that Reynolds approached Baldoni’s agent during the premiere. WME maintained that Baldoni’s agent was not present at the premiere and that Reynolds did not pressure the agent to drop Baldoni.

“In Baldoni’s file, there is a claim that Reynolds pressured Baldoni’s agent to Deadpool and Wolverine first. This is not true,” the agency said in a statement at the time. “Baldoni’s former representative was not present Deadpool and Wolverine premiere and there was no pressure from Reynolds or Lively at any point to drop Baldoni as a client.

The lawsuit details calculated maneuvers behind the scenes of the film. Wayfarer claims it was blindsided when Lively, at the end of last year’s strikes, refused to resume production without the company agreeing to a 17-point list of demands involving misconduct during filming. Lively exploited his demands, according to the lawsuit, to gain control of the film, ultimately getting her own version of the film and a producer credit. Under his leadership, Baldoni was ousted from all marketing and promotional efforts, according to the complaint.

When his promotional efforts allegedly backfired and led to public backlash, Lively ordered Sloane, her publicist, to spread false stories portraying Baldoni as a sexual predator, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also details the rift between Stephanie Jones, founder of Jonesworks and Wayfarer and Baldoni’s public relations firm, and Abel, Jones’ right-hand man who oversaw the company’s Los Angeles office. He claims Jones aimed to undermine Abel after she announced her decision a month earlier to start her own company.

“Jones’ behavior became increasingly bizarre as she attacked loyal customers like Wayfarer in rage-filled rants, and strayed from professional experience and strategy when she made critical decisions affecting Jonesworks customers,” the complaint states. “After a final outburst against Wayfarer in which it flatly refused to comply with their direct instructions, Wayfarer had no choice but to sever ties with Jones and Jonesworks rather than leave their public image between the hands of what seemed to be an unusual group. controlling Jones, whose actions were not aligned with the worldview and wishes of Wayfarer and Baldoni.

According to the lawsuit, Jones took Abel’s phone when he left and extracted messages intended to be used as legal ammunition without necessary context to concoct a false narrative that Lively was the target of a smear campaign launched by Baldoni and his team.

In a statement, Nathan and Abel, who said they had received death threats, said Lively and her team “launched this media smear campaign for the sole purpose of gaining undeserved public sympathy for his own missteps. They added: “Five months ago, Ms. Lively chose to promote a film about domestic violence in a way that immediately caused an organic, negative reaction due to her own high-profile actions. Instead of accepting responsibility, she decided to cruelly blame us. This malicious attack on individuals by Ms. Lively and her team in which they chose to feed The New York Times with falsified, out-of-context, and edited text messages in an attempt to portray themselves as a victim set off a chain of events that has been harmful beyond measure.