Hollywood A-lister Scarlett Johansson has been dragged into the It Ends With Us legal battle after audio has emerged of executives comparing the Avengers star to Blake Lively.
The audio clip was filed by Lively's team of lawyers as part of the court case examining her allegation of sexual harassment and violations of her personal boundaries on the set of the 2024 hit movie, which made $350 million at the box office.
Steve Sarowitz, the billionaire co-founder of Baldoni's Wayfarer Studios, can be heard raving about his experience working with 'nice' Johansson on her directorial debut Eleanor the Great, which he said was 'completely different' from working with Lively.
The conversation, obtained by Us Weekly, was between Sarowitz, 61 and filmmaker Claire Ayoub, who recorded how he spoke about Lively after experiencing 'repeated, negative interactions', including 'verbal abuse', from Baldoni while working with him on 2024's Empire Waist.
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"I love this women’s empowerment. We have another first-time director we supported," Sarowitz said, glibly referencing his work with Johansson to Ayoub.
She replied: "A woman named Scarlett Johansson? I’m so excited for her!"
Again referring to the Black Widow actor, whose films have grossed over $15 billion in her 20-year career, Sarowitz joked: "We’re trying to give her her first big break. Maybe people will hear of her after this."
The billionaire, who backed the failed $400 million defamation lawsuit filed by Baldoni in the wake of his co-star's allegations of sexual harassment, proceeds to gush about Johansson to draw a contrast with his perception of Lively.
He said: “She was so cool, calm, collected and confident … and nice. It’s so interesting because you work with so many people.
"Almost everybody is nice, and then there’s Blake — she is totally different than everyone else. Not to say anything bad about her, but she’s different.”
Sarowitz added: "I think for the most part most people see what we are doing see we’re nice and they’re nice back. Even if they weren’t perfectly nice. I just think some people forgot to learn how to be nice."
During the recorded 40 minute conversation with Ayoub, he said he was no longer 'excited' about the film's release and claimed: "The It Ends With Us drama is simply a drama. I’m done with it. Let the chips fall where they may."
The co-litigant in the failed defamation lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds (Johansson's ex), and the New York Times, also said of the accusations that 'everything was made up' that had been 'manufactured on purpose to take Justin down.'
But assertions from other women involved with the It Ends With Us production appear to support Lively's claims of misconduct, with the author of the book the film is based on, Colleen Hoover, pointing to Baldoni's 'narcissistic behavior'.
Describing a private dinner where Baldoni tried to persuade her against Lively, she said in a court deposition: “For a man who has a platform of building women up, that I left the dinner disappointed that it felt like I was made to not like her.
“I left the dinner feeling like the intention was to get me on their side or, you know, just explain their side before I heard it from her.”
Us Weekly also reports Baldoni's other co-star, Jenny Slate, making similar claims, with the actor saying: "This has been a really gross and disturbing shoot, and I’m one of many who feel thus [sic] way, and Blake and i have both complained directly to Ange [Giannetti] at Sony.
“Justin is truly a false ally and I’m unwilling to do anything that promotes the image that he’s crafting as a ‘male feminist’ … like … honestly i have no words to describe what a fraud he is."
The It Ends With Us court battle is slated to be heard at a jury trial in May.
Topics: Blake Lively, Hollywood, Scarlett Johansson, Celebrity, Justin Baldoni, Entertainment
William Morgan