A Hollywood intimacy coordinator has spoken out about leaked behind-the-scenes footage from “It Ends With Us,” confirming Blake Lively’s claims that Justin Baldoni made her “uncomfortable.”
In December 2024, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment on set, highlighting a specific slow dance scene in which he allegedly “behaved inappropriately.”
Baldoni, 41, refuted the “Gossip Girl” star’s allegations by posting 10 minutes of raw video, which he said proved he “clearly behaved well within the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.”
However, intimacy coordinator Mia Schachter — who did not work on “It Ends With Us” — told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday that she “sees the opposite.”
Schachter claimed that the “Five Feet Apart” director was clearly adding more intimacy to the scene than was initially “intended or discussed.”
“The first thing is he tries to kiss her, and they clearly haven’t discussed it in advance, and she keeps pulling away and clearly doesn’t want to do that,” Schachter told the outlet.
As the video began, a snippet of script appeared on the screen that read: “EXT BAR – NIGHT. Lily and Ryle slow dance at the bar. Customers around them are drinking and watching sports. Completely in their own world.
Schachter noted that “there’s not even a kiss written into the scene,” so an intimacy coordinator probably wasn’t asked to step in because there’s no “mention of any kind of physical intimacy.
“I know there were two intimacy coordinators credited on this film, but it doesn’t surprise me at all that they wouldn’t have had an intimacy coordinator present for that scene,” she said. declared.
“An intimacy coordinator would have been very clear: ‘We don’t kiss. That’s the kind of touch that’s on the table. Nothing else is, we’re not going to introduce anything into the scene that we haven’t discussed before.
Schachter said that if Baldoni wanted to add more intimacy, then that should have been discussed beforehand so that no one “was caught off guard” by the improvisation.
“I think it was his responsibility to ask Blake, ‘Hey, what do you think about kissing in this scene?'” she explained. “If that’s what he wanted to see.” But he didn’t ask or even mention that this was something he wanted to film – he just went for it.
“She walked away, and then he did it again,” she continued. “He definitely should have communicated that this is what he wanted to film, but he didn’t. For me, it’s pretty overwhelming, both as an actor and a director.
Without a professional presence, Schachter said the actor-director’s “power dynamic” potentially prohibited Lively, 37, from speaking out — despite being the “star” of the film.
“Even though her name is Blake Lively and she can say no and she won’t be fired for speaking her mind like someone else might fear, she still has to keep working with him, keep the peace and play nice,” she told the outlet.
“I can just see her trying to keep it light and good-natured about it and not upset him or anyone, and not waste anyone’s time,” she continued. “But of course she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place.” I can see her calming him down and trying to keep a smile on her face.
Since there was no audio for the scene, Lively and Baldoni chatted out of character, adding another level of complexity.
In the “Jane The Virgin” star’s $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively, he alleged she “continued to break character” during their slow dance scene and began “talking as herself rather than as Lily, which was extremely confusing to Baldoni.” .”
However, she alleged he began speaking “out of character”, crossing boundaries by telling her she smelled “so good”.
Schachter said the two men’s decision to speak out of character “shows how complex the situation is.”
The intimacy coordinator found the small talk — which included their respective spouses, Ryan Reynolds and Emily Baldoni — “sweet” and a little “awkward” but “not inappropriate.”
“To call this out of line is not inherently wrong or inappropriate, but when there is increasing discomfort and more and more line crossings, I can see how it becomes yet another thing that was out of place. relevant,” she said.
The industry insider, who worked on Apple TV+’s “Lessons in Chemistry” and HBO’s “Insecure,” said she was “surprised” that Justin’s team chose to release this particular clip – but she doesn’t “think either one is lying.” »
“I think they’re both speaking from their own experiences,” she said. “They really disagree on things like professionalism, etiquette, what’s appropriate, what’s not, what it means to be an actor.”
She continued: “It’s less about this particular comment and whether or not it was a straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s like she has a list of times when she felt uncomfortable and pushed, and inappropriate things happened.
While Baldoni’s team says the clips prove his innocence, Lively’s team believes the “overwhelming” evidence “corroborates” their client’s claims.
“The video shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning toward Ms. Lively, trying to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, brushing her lips with his thumb, caressing her, telling her to how good she smells, and talking with her out of character,” they said in a statement earlier this week.
“Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni without discussion or prior consent, and without the presence of an intimacy coordinator.”
They claimed the actress tried to “repeatedly ask” their characters to “just talk”, using “levity to try to deflect unwanted touching”.
Representatives for Baldoni and Lively did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
