Unseen Footage of Blake Lively’s Unscripted Kiss With Justin Baldoni Sparks New Legal Twist
Unseen behind-the-scenes footage from the production of It Ends With Us has become the center of a new legal twist in the ongoing dispute between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, escalating a conflict that has already drawn intense public and industry attention. The video, recently submitted to the court as part of Baldoni’s motion for summary judgment, reportedly shows Lively initiating an unscripted kiss during the filming of a deleted scene—a development Baldoni’s team argues fundamentally challenges the core of Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims.
Lively, who starred in the film and served as an executive producer, filed a lawsuit in late 2024 alleging that Baldoni, her co-star as well as the film’s director and producer, engaged in unprofessional and inappropriate conduct on set. Her complaint asserts that Baldoni initiated physical contact during scenes that were not written to include intimate moments and that she repeatedly objected to this behaviour. The new footage, Baldoni’s attorneys contend, offers context that contradicts the narrative of one-sided improvised intimacy and instead shows that both actors occasionally deviated from the script during emotionally charged scenes.
The disputed clip comes from a hospital-set sequence that ultimately did not appear in the final version of the movie. According to Baldoni’s legal filing, the scene was shot in May 2023 and features the two actors moving through a hallway in a moment of heightened dramatic intensity. In the recording presented to the court, Lively can be seen initiating a kiss not indicated in the written script. Baldoni’s team argues that this demonstrates a collaborative, improvisational dynamic rather than misconduct, and that Lively’s lawsuit misrepresents the creative environment on set.
Lively’s representatives, however, have maintained that the clip is being taken out of context and does not undermine her larger claims regarding consent, boundaries, and production-level negotiations. Her lawsuit states that she requested clearer guardrails for scenes involving physical intimacy and that production formally agreed to conditions preventing unscripted kissing months after the footage in question was captured. Supporters of Lively emphasize that a single instance of improvisation, especially one occurring early in filming, does not invalidate an actor’s later objections to unanticipated contact.
The introduction of the footage prompted Baldoni’s team to ask the judge to dismiss Lively’s $161 million suit, arguing that no reasonable jury could rule in her favour given the broader context the recording provides. Lively’s attorneys counter that the motion is premature and that a full trial is necessary to evaluate the evidence, workplace dynamics, and witness testimony surrounding the production.
The judge has not yet ruled on the motion, and the case remains scheduled for trial next year unless resolved earlier. As both sides continue to dispute what occurred on set and how the footage should be interpreted, the controversy has broadened into a larger industry conversation about consent, power dynamics, intimacy coordination, and how creative improvisation should be managed in film environments.
The newly surfaced clip underscores how even a few seconds of behind-the-scenes material can reshape the trajectory of a high-stakes legal battle—one that shows no signs of quieting anytime soon.
