Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are doubling down on their efforts to gag Justin Baldoni and his lawyers following a series of bombshell claims made by the actor’s legal team.
In a letter to the judge presiding over the case on Monday, the couple’s attorney is urgently requesting a conference to highlight their ‘growing concerns’ over what they describe as lawyer Bryan Freedman’s alleged ‘extrajudicial misconduct’.
The filing, obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, cites Freedman’s media appearances as well as a report of a new website being created by Baldoni’s team to ‘strategically release selected documents and communications’ between the two feuding co-stars.
The report, published by DailyMail.com on Friday, revealed Baldoni’s lawyers are in the process of building a website on the case that will allow anyone to see numerous snippets of unedited footage from the film, including anything which ‘speaks to’ Lively’s original complaint about the actor.
Freedman has publicly warned: ‘We have all the receipts – and more.’
But the couple’s attorney Michael Gottlieb has claimed the website and Freedman’s public comments are part of a campaign to ‘influence proceedings and the public perception’ of the case with ‘inflammatory content’.
Lawyers for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds wrote a letter to a judge on Monday requesting an urgent conference amid their bid to gag Justin Baldoni and his legal team
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman has been accused of engaging in a campaign to ‘influence proceedings and the public perception’ of the case with ‘inflammatory content’
‘He further has made it clear that his priority is to “torpedo Blake Lively’s career for good” by, among other things, creating a website to release strategically selected documents and communications between Ms. Lively and Mr. Baldoni,’ Gottlieb states in the letter.
‘The planned website will release what Mr. Freedman self-servingly proclaims will be “full unedited WhatsApp, text and email exchanges between Lively and Baldoni,” although neither the media nor public will have any way of knowing which communications Mr. Freedman has selectively omitted from disclosure, including communications that Mr. Freedman and his clients may have deleted.’
Gottlieb goes on to argue that the website will ‘presumably not include’ communications that Freedman and Baldoni have had with media sources, meaning it will be ‘incomplete, biased, and prejudicial by design’.
He also claims Freedman’s ‘efforts to spin’ Lively’s request for a gag order as an attempt to silence them out of fear, in a bid to ‘impugn’ her character.
A source familiar with case claimed that the website will promote transparency in the case and denied it would contain selective material.
‘There is nothing that will be selective on the website. The aim here is to do the exact opposite of what they did – to not be selective, to not cherry pick, and to not doctor text messages which they did when they gave them to the New York Times,’ the source told DailyMail.com on Monday.
A letter filed on Monday points out Freedman’s recent media appearances as well as a report of a new website being created by Baldoni’s team to ‘strategically release selected documents and communications’ between the two feuding co-stars
The latest filing comes days after DailyMail.com exclusively reported that Lively and her husband will soon be subpoenaed for all texts, emails, and messages sent about Justin Baldoni and the movie It Ends With Us.
The high-flying Hollywood couple were both named as defendants in a blockbuster lawsuit filed by Baldoni last week which could see them facing a $400million payout if he prevails.
Both Lively, 37, and Reynolds, 48, along with their PR supremo Leslie Sloane, are being hit with deposition demands which will see them ordered to provide hours of testimony as they are quizzed by Baldoni’s lawyers.
A source familiar with the proceedings told DailyMail.com: ‘All parties should be aware that they will be subpoenaed and deposed imminently’.
The impending subpoenas are a further sign that the gloves are coming off in the epic legal battle between glamorous blonde Lively and Baldoni.
The feud first emerged in rumors of discord on the set of the domestic abuse drama that heated up during the promotional campaign that accompanied its release last August.
Last week, DailyMail.com revealed that Lively and Reynolds will soon be subpoenaed for all texts, emails, and messages sent about Justin Baldoni and the movie It Ends With Us
DailyMail.com obtained raw footage showing the slow dance montage scene during which Lively claimed Baldoni had sexually harassed her by nuzzling her neck and declaring: ‘It smells so good’
According to Baldoni, the bitterness between the film’s two stars was so bad he and his family were banished to a cinema basement for the premiere on Lively’s orders.
In December, the drama exploded into a legal fight when Lively sued claiming sexual harassment.
At the same time, the New York Times released a story based on Lively’s legal filing that accused Baldoni of orchestrating a negative publicity campaign against her and put the harassment claim front and center.
In turn, Baldoni sued the Times for defamation and, last week, launched a lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds that accused her of using their celebrity power to hijack his film and attempt to torpedo his career.
Another twist in the tale came earlier this week, when DailyMail.com obtained raw footage showing the slow dance montage scene during which Lively claimed Baldoni had sexually harassed her by nuzzling her neck and declaring: ‘It smells so good’.
In her civil rights complaint filed last month, the actress insisted nobody overheard the comment because the romantic montage was silent and the microphones were switched off.
Lively claims the explosive video exclusively released by DailyMail.com, which shows all three takes of a dance scene between the duo, proves that she was uncomfortable during the scene
The tapes show how friendly the two stars were before it all went so wrong. The two are heard and seen laughing and joking around
After Baldoni tells Lively he’s probably getting his beard on her, she responds by saying she’s probably getting spray tan on him. Then he quips back ‘it smells good’ before both laugh and she tells him the scent actually comes from her body makeup
But DailyMail.com revealed Baldoni’s sound equipment was on – and exclusively obtained an explosive video showing all three takes that smashes Lively’s claims into smithereens.
The tapes show how friendly the two stars were before it all went so wrong. They laugh and joke around – even joshing about the size of Baldoni’s nose and talk about how they spend their time with their spouses.
They include a complete record of the conversation in question that makes clear the comment about her smelling so good was in response to Lively talking about her spray tan as they film a romantic dance.
Baldoni tells Lively he’s probably getting his beard on her and she responds by saying she’s probably getting spray tan on him.
Then he quips back ‘it smells good’ before both laugh and she tells him the scent actually comes from her body makeup.
And while the montage does show Baldoni nuzzling Lively’s neck as part of the scene in which they play lovers, the conversation between them is all business with the pair spending most of it talking about lighting and their other halves.
Lively’s legal team claims that her ‘leaning away’ from Baldoni during the scene was not acting, and that the clips show her ‘repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk’
The raw footage clip comes complete with audio and was passed to DailyMail.com by the actor’s production company Wayfarer and Freedman who has previously said Baldoni has ‘nothing to hide’.
Our exclusive footage is the latest revelation in a lengthy saga that began with talk of rancor behind the scenes of It Ends With Us.
It exploded into a legal fight just before Christmas when the former Gossip Girl sued Baldoni for sexual harassment.
At the same time, the New York Times released a story based on Lively’s legal filing that accused him of orchestrating a negative publicity campaign against her and put the smell claim front and center.
In turn, Baldoni sued the Times for defamation and, last week, launched a $400million lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds that accused her of using her celebrity power to hijack his film and attempt to torpedo his career.
The new clip, which Lively had previously insisted had no audio, begins with the pair discussing the scene with the actress telling Baldoni ‘I’m off my mark’.
The film at the heart of the feud, based on the 2016 bestseller by Colleen Hoover, was released in August and was a box office hit. It follows Lily Bloom, a florist played by Lively, who falls in love with a charming but abusive neurosurgeon played by Baldoni
Baldoni filed a lawsuit against the Hollywood couple last week which could see them facing a $400million payout if he prevails
At one point the pair are heard debating whether it is better to talk or kiss during the montage, with Lively arguing that chatting is ‘more romantic’ which Baldoni acquiesces to and then, when she wonders whether anyone will discover what they’re really talking about, quips ‘They’re never going to find out.’
Conversation then turns to their spouses, with Lively saying she and Reynolds talk ‘all the time’ while Baldoni says he and wife Emily stare at each other ‘for 10, literally like we’ve done it for five minutes’.
Lively then bursts into laughter as he tells her ‘I think you would find it terrifying’. When Lively continues to tell him about how she can’t stop talking to Reynolds, Baldoni compliments: ‘Oh, I think that’s cute. You guys are really cute.’
Awkwardly, she replies ‘I think it’s more than cute’ which he hastily agrees with, adding ‘I think you guys are amazing.’
Baldoni, who directed as well as acted in It Ends With Us, then says he wants them to be filmed almost kissing, at which Lively then continues to talk – insisting its more romantic to chat and not give the audience the smooch she says they want.
She continues to talk before saying ‘heads together’, prompting both to lean their foreheads against each other.
At that point, Lively begins talking about noses, telling Baldoni: ‘I feel so nosey. It’s just noses’.
Baldoni then tells her ‘my nose is so big’ to which she bursts into laughter, exclaiming: ‘Yes. I was hoping we could address this. Just got to shut down, gotta call an insurance month and just deal with that. Just kidding.’
The clip then continues into the second take, with Baldoni heard giving instructions to the crew and discussing the scene with Lively.
Then, just over seven minutes in, comes the critical conversation that appears to be the source of Lively’s accusation which begins when Baldoni asks ‘if I’m getting beard on you’.
She laughs and says ‘I’m probably getting spray tan on you’ to which he replies ‘it smells good’ and they both laugh.
Lively then tells him: ‘Well it’s not that, it’s my body makeup.’
As the extras erupt in cheers, Baldoni shouts ‘cut!’ and tells her they have enough for a 17-minute reel.
The final take, which focuses on their feet, includes audio of Baldoni telling Lively that ‘I’m going to let you direct this’ with the actress then insisting her heels aren’t cropped out ‘because of the sparkle’.
DailyMail.com’s explosive new clip came less than five days after Baldoni’s lawsuit was filed and two weeks since the actress was accused of serving the actor and his team papers as they evacuated during the Los Angeles wildfires.
In Baldoni’s suit, Lively is accused of failing to read the novel on which the book is based until long after filming had begun and orchestrating a negative publicity campaign of her own with the knowledge of Sloane and the Times.
During one incident, according to the legal filing, Lively attempted to intimidate Baldoni by pointing to her famous husband and her close friend Taylor Swift then comparing herself to Game of Thrones character Khaleesi and telling him ‘I have a lot of dragons’.
The actress and her team are also accused of doctoring text conversations between Baldoni’s publicists to make them look damning and as if they’re plotting a smear campaign against her – which led to both being subjected to social media abuse when the edited texts were published.
