It Ends With Us stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been the subject of much discussion in the entertainment space amid their ongoing legal battle.
Now, months into it, a resurfaced clip of Lively admitting to needing “authorship” on movies she gets hired to act in has divided even more fans.
This comes as the two stars’ legal battle claims that Lively took over certain aspects of It Ends With Us, which Baldoni both starred and directed.
In the resurfaced clip shared by Forbes, Lively explained: “I think that as women, you’re not often given authorship yet women represent 85% of people making purchases in homes across all categories.”
“Yet, the majority of things that we’re buying are created by men,” she added.
She continued: “That goes into storytelling, that goes into filmmaking, that goes into everything.”
“I didn’t like a lot of stories told by men and products made by men… but it’s just not equitable, but it’s also not logical.”
During the same event, Lively further discussed how she would seek “authorship” in movies in which she had simply been hired to act.
She explained: “I would show up on a set. I knew that they just wanted me to show up and look cute and stand on a little pink sticker where I’m supposed to go and say what I’m supposed to say.”
“But I also knew that like that wasn’t fulfilling for me,” she added.
“I wanted to be a part of the storytelling, that I wanted to be a part of the narrative, whether that be in the writing and the costume design and creating the character,” she admittedly explained.
Lively’s next comments on the matter are seemingly what has divided fans the most.
“Sometimes I had directors or producers or writers who would welcome that and invite that once they saw that I was able to offer that,” she explained.
However, she continued: “And sometimes I would have people who really resented that because they were like, ‘We just hired you to be an actor.'”
“Yet when I went in the meetings, I would just seem like I’m just there to be the actor and ready to get the gig… I wouldn’t reveal that I actually need to have authorship in order to feel fulfilled,” she admitted.
“So, I think that for them, sometimes that might have felt like a rug pulled because you’re like, ‘You’re trying to assert yourself into something that we didn’t hire you to do.'”
She continued: “And, so, it was like… it was a really strange position to be in because I felt like, ‘I don’t want to just like be an actor.'”
“I want to, you know, I want to have more authorship.”
“So I think that… I think that it’s about knowing what I want and what I need and representing that from the outset,” she added.
“If people are into that and want to collaborate with me for all I feel like I need to offer and bring to a job, then those are the people I should collaborate with.”
“And if I see that it’s people who are, whether this is in business or acting or whatever it is, whereas people who I can see that feels like that’s stepping on their territory, that’s not going to ultimately be a fulfilling relationship for either one of us.”
In response to Lively’s resurfaced admission, divided fans had this to say – see below.
“Then maybe … ehum, write something or design something,” one wrote.
“She acts like it’s feminism, but it’s pompous entitlement,” a second added.
“So unfulfilled nurses are just allowed to operate on people??!” a third jokingly chimed in.
“Many actors do not have the funds to start their own production company but she literally does. She should do that. Not trick people into hiring her and cause herself problems.”
“Her and her husband are billionaires why can’t she start her own projects instead of stealing peoples’s hard work?”
“It’s not wrong for you to want to produce, direct, or do anything else in a movie besides acting. What’s not okay is being hired for one thing and suddenly trying to take over other people’s roles, wanting to control situations, and thinking it’s your right just because you think you can.”
“If that’s what you want, then go make your own movie. And I guess now she’ll have to, because what director would want to work with her now?”
Discussion