Matt Damon and his wife Lucy have promised to provide “any help they can” to Blake Lively in 2024 as she produces her own cut of “It Ends With Us” to rival co-star Justin Baldoni’s version.
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Blake Lively’s 2024 correspondence with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and his wife Lucy Damon has been unsealed in Lively’s ongoing legal battle with Justin Baldoni and his “It Ends With Us” producing partners.
Among the hundreds of exhibits unsealed on January 20 are purported texts and emails from May 2024 that Baldoni’s lawyers previously submitted as evidence in a New York civil suit. In it, Lively laments the challenges of the film, which Baldoni directed and starred opposite Lively, and asks Hollywood stars to watch and critique the version of “It Ends With Us” she cut with her.
USA TODAY has reached out to Affleck and Damon’s representatives for comment.
In what appeared to be a group chat with the Damons, Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds accepted the couple’s request to see the movie, adding, “It was a completely no-pressure request.” He also called the project “one of the most exciting projects on and off set. Someday I’ll probably make a movie about this movie.”
Lively went in to “add another zero to the pressure,” airing her dissatisfaction with Baldoni and telling the Damons, “This movie almost got me killed. The director, co-stars, producers, financiers, and studio head (yes, all of them) had zero experience.”
Lively is credited as a producer on the film. Wayfarer Studios, which Baldoni co-founded with executive producer Steve Sarowitz, was one of the film’s production companies.
“What I didn’t expect was that I would have to do everything on this movie. I rewrote the entire script. I directed all the actors.[The cinematographer]came to me whenever I couldn’t get anything from him. So it happened all too often,” Lively wrote.
She later claimed that distributor Sony Pictures Releasing was “looking for every reason not to use his cut.” She was given “10 days to assemble an edit comparable to the work[Baldoni has been making since July].” She and Reynolds invited the Damons to a “Family and Friends” screening of Lively’s cut in New York the next day.
Matt Damon responded, “We’ll help in any way we can. And if this experience hasn’t completely destroyed your soul, Blake, come direct your next movie with Artists Equity.”
Lucy Damon, a partner at the company and known for producing “The Rip” and “The Investigators,” agreed: “Absolutely! I’d be happy to watch it and (hopefully) find it useful.”
USA TODAY has reached out to a Sony spokesperson for comment.
Blake Lively, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez ask to see their cut of ‘It Ends With Us’
Hours before the May 17 exchange with the Damons, another exhibit showed Lively emailing Affleck, Matt Damon’s longtime filmmaking partner, asking if he would “watch the movie and give me any ideas or notes.”
“If your wife and kids are around, I’d love to hear their opinion as well (by the way, this book deals with domestic violence so no one is caught off guard),” she wrote to Affleck. “I’m a huge fan of Jennifer’s and I tell her the same thing every time I meet her. I would be honored if she accepted me.”
She candidly said that “It Ends with Us” was “the most upsetting experience I’ve ever had in a movie.” The making-of doc is going to be much more interesting than the movie itself.” She later added, “If I had officially directed it, it would have been easier.”
Two days later, in another text exchange with a person whose name was redacted, Ms. Lively wrote that “It Ends With Us” author Colleen Hoover attended a screening of Lively’s version of the film and was “murdered in the room.” Bradley Cooper added that he “saw it twice” and explained that “he made me feel really good about the cut.”
Instead of providing feedback, the Damons contacted Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group CEO Tom Rothman and “attempted to push through my edits without consulting Justin,” she claimed.
Lawyers for Mr. Lively and Mr. Baldoni returned to the Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, January 22, to discuss issues including the defense’s motion to end the legal battle without going to trial and Mr. Lively’s request for sanctions against the defendants for allegedly failing to preserve their conversations.
The legal battle began in late 2024, with Lively filing a complaint in California and then in New York federal court alleging sexual harassment and retaliation by Baldoni and Heath. The ongoing lawsuit focuses on Ms. Baldoni’s claims following the dismissal of her defamation lawsuit against Mr. Lively and Mr. Reynolds, as well as claims in a separate lawsuit against The New York Times.
