Blake Lively's legal team responds to Justin Baldoni releasing “It Ends With Us” footage

Blake Lively is breaking her silence after her It Ends With Us director and costar Justin Baldoni’s legal team on Tuesday released footage from the set of the romantic drama that they allege refutes her claims of sexual harassment against him.

In the footage, above, which Entertainment Weekly received from Baldoni's legal counsel, Bryan Freedman, the two stars can be seen filming a scene in which their characters, Lily and Ryle, slow dance romantically for a slow-motion montage. The actors seem to speak to each other as themselves while doing so, as the final scene was intended to be without any scripted dialogue.

The two discuss what's more "romantic" for the scene, with Lively suggesting several times they be talking as opposed to kissing. At one point in the video, Baldoni leans in to Lively and asks her, “Am I getting beard on you today?” After Lively laughs, she says, “I’m probably getting spray-tan on you," to which Baldoni replies that “it smells good.”

Among Lively's accusations in her lawsuit filed late last month was that during the filming of “a slow dance scene for a montage in which no sound was recorded,” Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good’... When Ms. Lively later objected to this behavior, Mr. Baldoni’s response was, ‘I’m not even attracted to you.’”

A statement that precedes the footage claims, “The following videos captured on May 23, 2023 clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior. The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism.” It also says the clips are "all three takes filmed of the sequence" but it's unclear if there is additional footage that was shot and not included here.

Related: How Taylor Swift fits into the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni

In a lengthy statement provided to EW on Tuesday, Lively's legal team slams the footage as "damning," saying in part that “every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint."

The statement calls out Baldoni "repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character," all of which they say was improvised by him "with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present."

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It continues, "The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort. They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent."

Lively's legal team also slammed the release of the video itself as opposed to showing it as evidence in court as "another example of an unethical attempt to manipulate the public" and "a continuation of their harassment and retaliatory campaign."

Related: Justin Baldoni's Blake Lively lawsuit includes photos of him allegedly 'being held' in basement at It Ends With Us premiere

Baldoni's legal counsel, meanwhile, states that their client "has nothing to hide. And this video, once more proves this. Justin and team have the right to defend themselves with the truth and this is what we will be continuing to show with the upcoming website containing all correspondence as well as relevant videos that directly quash her claims."

Lively first filed her lawsuit against Baldoni and his film studio Wayfarer after she filed an initial complaint with the California Civil Rights Department late last month, in which she accused her costar and director of sexual harassment on set and orchestrating a smear campaign against her, among other things. Baldoni has since filed a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, who first reported Lively's allegations.

Then, on Jan. 16, Baldoni filed a separate suit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds. That lawsuit, which EW has reviewed, was also filed on behalf of Wayfarer, and its chief executive, Jamey Heath, a producer on It Ends With Us, and requests at least $400 million in damages. In it, Baldoni alleges defamation, civil extortion, and breach of contract, among other accusations.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly