At this trajectory, the legacy of It Ends with Us won’t be one of sturdy character work, visual storytelling, or its message of compassion. No, it’s going to be the drama that’s sprung up between director/star Justin Baldoni and leading lady Blake Lively.
This, is much to the dismay of one Brandon Sklenar, who portrayed the character Atlas Corrigan — Lily Bloom’s childhood love and confidant — in the film. During a recent appearance on the CBS Mornings program, Sklenar — who was also there to promote 1923, where he portrays Spencer Dutton — was asked whether he was on “Team Blake” or “Team Justin,” in reference to either side of the spat.
Sklenar, as he put it, is “Team It Ends with Us.”
I’m Team It Ends with Us… I just want people to remember why we made the movie in the first place and what it stands for, and just keeping the focus on that. I have someone very close to me who’s gone through what [Lively’s character Lily is] going through for a long time and I’ve been on the front lines helping her navigate that space, so that movie meant a lot to me and it means a lot to her. It was one of the reasons that me doing that movie gave her the strength to change her life. It’s unfortunate that things get taken away from what the ethos of that thing is and it gets convoluted.
Will Brandon Sklenar share the screen with legends Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren in the highly-anticipated second season of #1923TV?
The star, who plays Spencer Dutton, says he doesn’t want to spoil any of the drama — but teases a “profoundly beautiful” season 2 of the… pic.twitter.com/KHSZ8yGmae
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) February 17, 2025
The actor previously came to the defense of Blake Lively when the latter was being lambasted for her handling of the film’s promotion, encouraging people online to look at the heart of the film rather than scrutinizing the celebrities involved with it.
That was only the beginning. Lively’s perceived carelessness eventually lost the spotlight to accusations against Baldoni for on-set sexual harassment, which came in the form of a December 2024 lawsuit from Lively. Additional allegations of Baldoni’s hiring of a PR team to ruin Lively’s public image were published by the New York Times, who were met with a libel lawsuit from Baldoni in response. Meanwhile, a $400 million civil suit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, alleging extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy, was filed by Baldoni just last month.
That’s the SparkNotes of this whole debacle, and if you’re looking for validation that you’re supporting the right person in this spat, I’m afraid you’ll find no such thing here. None of us know what happened behind the scenes on It Ends with Us, and none of us know what else happened behind the closed doors of either Lively or Baldoni. As far as we’re all concerned, it might as well just be two alleged adults who are incapable of holding themselves accountable or reconciling their differences and have made their beef our problem as a result.
And in a world of those people, be like Brandon Sklenar, who’s been making a point to communicate with the world through a lens of love and compassion, and has no patience for getting caught up in mean-spirited sensation.
