Justin Baldoni sues Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, alleging defamation and extortion

Justin Baldoni is suing It Ends With Us costar Blake Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, accusing the Hollywood power couple of hijacking the film and orchestrating a smear campaign against him.

Baldoni has alleged defamation, civil extortion, and breach of contract, among other accusations, in a lengthy complaint filed on Thursday and reviewed by Entertainment Weekly. The lawsuit — which was also filed on behalf of his film studio, Wayfarer, and its chief executive, Jamey Heath, a producer on the film — requests at least $400 million in damages.

Related: Justin Baldoni to sue Blake Lively over It Ends With Us set allegations, wants to release 'every single text,' lawyer says

"This lawsuit is a legal action based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team's duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team, and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new, and doctored information to the media," said Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman in a statement.

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"It is clear based on our own all-out willingness to provide all complete text messages, emails, video footage, and other documentary evidence that was shared between the parties in real time that this is a battle she will not win and will certainly regret," Freedman added. "We know the truth, and now the public does, too. Justin and his team have nothing to hide. Documents do not lie."

Representatives for Lively and Reynolds did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

Related: Justin Baldoni sues The New York Times for $250M over Blake Lively smear campaign story

The filing comes after Freedman sent a litigation hold letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel president Kevin Feige to demand preservation of communications regarding the development of the character Nicepool in Reynolds' recent superhero blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine. Nicepool is a man-bun-wearing, pseudo-feminist variant of Deadpool, and many fans have speculated that he is based on Baldoni.

Lively filed her own lawsuit against Baldoni and Wayfarer after she lodged a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department late last month, accusing her costar and director of sexual harassment on set and orchestrating a smear campaign against her. The allegations were first reported by The New York Times, and Baldoni has since filed a lawsuit against the newspaper, alleging defamation.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly