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Is Blake Lively guilty of one of the same things that Justin Baldoni allegedly put her through on set?
An allegedly totally organic group of Lively haters (which already sounds familiar) are accusing the actress of hypocrisy for her sexual misconduct allegations against Baldoni.
When Lively filmed A Simple Favor (truly a perfect movie), she “improvised” a grab of actor Henry Golding’s crotch. Baldoni stands accused of “improvising” kisses and touching as part of his sexual misconduct.
Are these the same actions? Did she do exactly what she accuses him of doing? Let’s take a look:
Is ‘A Simple Favor’ coming back to bite Blake Lively?
In the 2018 film, A Simple Favor, Henry Golding plays the husband of Blake Lively’s character.
During one intimate moment, her character grabs his crotch. This was not a body double for either of them, so the actress was grasping her co-star.
The scene is part of the film. It even appears to be scripted. However, behind-the-scenes commentary reveals otherwise.
In the Blu-Ray commentary, Lively shares that this moment was improvisation. It was, she explained, something that her character would do.
Director Paul Feig speaks warmly about Lively’s addition.
Lively also jokes about the inherent awkwardness of meeting someone and asking if you can grab them by the genitals.
This was not a unilateral decision, though …
Director Feig then describes having to coach Lively on the crotch grab, asking her to grasp Golding more aggressively.
Despite the professional context and tone of this behind-the-scenes discussion, some on social media — whether this is an honest reaction or the result of astroturfing — are saying that this makes Lively a hypocrite.
Though Lively has mentioned numerous actions (and she is not the only actress to have reported issues), one of her complaints against Baldoni is that he improvised touching and kissing. Lively even had a meeting during production of the film to try to put an end to that.
Is it the same? Well, no.
The commentary notes that Lively asked Golding before grabbing his crotch.
Additionally, Golding himself spoke about filming intimate scenes back in 2018.
He said that all of that took place on a closed set, that he and his scene partner ran through things beforehand.
Golding also noted that there was deliberately room for decisions in the moment.
Baldoni is accused of more than one ‘improvisation’
Earlier this year, Lively’s team fired back at Baldoni’s attempt to depict the two as getting along well as if that disproved the allegations.
(True or not, many people interact politely with people whom they fear or despise, especially if it’s for work)
“Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck,” her attorneys described.
Lively’s teams continued, listing: “flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character.” Yikes!
TMZ spoke to a rep for Blake Lively, who further clarified: “Blake collaborated and reached agreement with the director and her co-star before filming the scene.”
The rep continued: “That is the entire point here and that is what Mr. Baldoni did not do. The audio commentary referenced clearly says that she made a creative suggestion, all agreed on it, and it was incorporated through the appropriate filmmaking process.”
“Mr. Baldoni on the other hand, who was Blake’s boss as the director and producer of the film and the head of the studio,” the rep highlighted.
Are these accusations the same? Obviously not …
Lively’s rep noted that he “decided on his own, without asking first, that it was ok for him to bite and suck on Blake’s lower lip.”
This was allegedly “again without advance notice or asking for consent during a scene in which he continued to improvise more kissing on each take.”
The rep concluded: “This is just one example of the many in Blake’s lawsuit against Mr. Baldoni. The attempts to smear Blake have now come so full circle, that they are even starting to prove her own point.”
