Blake Lively’s hair-care launch was never meant to coincide with “It Ends With Us” release, source says
Lively has been criticized for seeming to promote her brands off the back of the film, but it was a premiere delay that coincided with a fixed launch date.
The It Ends With Us drama isn't ending any time soon.
In the latest controversy to rise out of the romantic drama, star and producer Blake Lively has come under fire for seeming to promote personal brands like her newly launched hair-care line, Blake Brown, off the back of the film. But a source told Entertainment Weekly that the launch of Blake Brown was never meant to coincide with the It Ends With Us premiere.
It Ends With Us was originally scheduled for a Valentine's Day premiere, which would have provided a wide berth between this launch and the launch of Blake Brown. But the film was delayed to June, and again to August, just days shy of Lively's planned hair-care debut.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty
Blake LivelyThis hair-care chapter of the ongoing It Ends With Us saga was stoked by an article in the New York Times which chronicled the "many ways" in which "It Ends With Us is a brand-building exercise for Lively."
The actress launched Blake Brown on Instagram while on the It Ends With Us Press tour, which included a stop at a flower-wreathed photo backdrop (a tie-in to her character's job as a florist in the film) bearing the name "Betty Blooms," a pop-up store Lively opened in New York featuring "fresh flowers & fizzy refreshments" courtesy her beverage brands Betty Buzz and Betty Booze.
The Times also reported that "a promotional email" was sent out explaining "how to make It Ends With Us-inspired cocktails using Betty Buzz." The ingredient list for one recipe included Aviation Gin, a brand owned by Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds.
Related: Justin Baldoni explains why he made that massive change to It Ends With Us
Stars crosspromoting their side-hustles via their movie projects and vice versa is nothing new. The reason Lively's businesses attracted pointed criticism is two-fold: because some find the sobering message at the heart of It Ends With Us contrasts too sharply with Lively's seemingly flip treatment of it in the press, and because the ongoing alleged "feud" between Lively and her director and co-star, Justin Baldoni, has turned a magnifying glass on everything the pair do.
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
The various on-set leaks, items of unverified gossip, and signs of a rift between Baldoni and at least Lively and source material author Colleen Hoover (Baldoni and Lively/Hoover haven't done a single press engagement together) reached such a heightened pitch that Baldoni recently hired a crisis management team.
Part of the rift could be attributed to creative differences, given the reports that two competing cuts were made of the film — one favored by Baldoni, and one by Lively. Each of these cuts was reportedly screened to different audiences, but EW has learned that the released version of the film was not one particular cut but rather a final cut that was agreed upon by all involved.
Baldoni made a significant change in the story from book to screen, one that Lively and Hoover allegedly disliked. Baldoni attempted to introduce more subjectivity, and thus, doubt, into Lively's character Lily's experience of abuse at the hands of Baldoni's Ryle. Baldoni told EW that he wanted the movie "to feel like a memory with an unreliable narrator who was showing us what she had experienced," rather than a cut-and-dry set of facts concerning one woman's struggle to break the cycle of domestic violence.
While Lively has been mum on the subject of her costar and director on the It Ends With Us press tour, Baldoni praised his costar to EW, saying that "Blake was involved in every aspect of the film ... She's been involved in all of it, and she's been a powerhouse of a creative and a wonderful collaborator."
Whatever happened between Baldoni and Lively, however, isn't hurting the film, which has far surpassed projections by grossing over $100 million at the box office in its first week.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.
Solve the daily Crossword
