It looks like it doesn’t end with them.
The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is still having an effect on other people in the entertainment business. The latest big names to get involved are Marvel president Kevin Feige, Disney CEO Bob Iger, and director Tim Miller.
The lawyer for Baldoni, Bryan Freedman, sent Feige and Iger a letter putting a hold on the case on January 7 because of his client’s “anticipated claims” against Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, and other unknown parties. Variety has seen a copy of the letter, which tells the company to keep all records and information related to Baldoni.
“It Ends With Us,” the movie that caused the fight between Lively and Baldoni, was released by Sony and has nothing to do with Disney. This may come as a surprise. However, Baldoni’s lawyer thinks that Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds made fun of Baldoni in a scene in Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which came out in July. Reynolds plays an oafish version of the main character Deadpool called “Nicepool” in this scene. Nicepool says things like “Where in God’s name is the intimacy coordinator?!” and praises Ladypool for “snapping back” into shape after giving birth.
Lively, who had a small role in the big movie as Ladypool, recently said that Baldoni sexually harassed her and made fun of her postpartum body on the set of “It Ends With Us.” Nicepool says, “It’s okay, I identify as a feminist” when Deadpool points out that he is being sexist toward women in the scene. Baldoni often talked about how he was a feminist and a supporter of women while he was writing, producing, and selling the drama “It Ends With Us,” which was about domestic violence.
Marvel and Disney both refused to comment, as did Reynolds and Lively’s lawyers. You tried to get in touch with Freedman but couldn’t. The Pacific Palisades fire, which is still going strong, is thought to have burned the home of many important people in the business world.
The litigation hold letter, which was sent the day the fires started, tells Marvel and Disney to keep “any and all documents relating to the development of the ‘Nicepool’ character” and “communications relating to the development, writing, and filming of storylines and scenes featuring ‘Nicepool.'” The letter also asks the studio to keep “all documents relating to or reflecting a deliberate attempt to mock, harass, ridicule, intimidate, or bully Baldoni through the character of ‘Nicepool.'”
Reynolds wrote, produced, and starred in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” but he has never said if there’s a link between Nicepool and Baldoni. Fans have thought about this for a long time, even before the current legal dispute between the two that has led to three lawsuits so far. On December 31, Baldoni and nine other people sued the New York Times for $250 million because of a story that was based on Lively’s letter to the California Civil Rights Department, in which she accused the director of sexual harassment and running an online campaign to get back at her. The group said that the Times was using “cherry-picked” and “doctored” communications that were “stripped of necessary context and purposely spliced to mislead.” The complaint also said that Lively started her own “strategic and manipulative” smear campaign and used lies “to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production.”
When Freedman went on “The Megyn Kelly Show” on January 7, he talked about the Nicepool figure. “There’s no doubt it has something to do with Justin.” “I mean, everyone who saw that hair bun,” she said. He also asked Reynolds why he would use the claims that his wife harassed him sexually as material for a joke. When someone is being sexually abused, you don’t make fun of it. “It’s a big problem,” Freedman said.
The litigation hold letter, which was written before “anticipated claims relate to Reynolds and Lively’s tortious interference with contract and civil extortion,” is about a lot more than just the Nicepool character. It suggests that Reynolds and Miller, who directed the first “Deadpool” movie but didn’t come back for the sequel or “Deadpool & Wolverine,” have a problem similar to the one between Lively and Baldoni. (The director and star are known to have had a fight.) The studio is told in the letter to keep any papers and information “relating to complaints made against Ryan Reynolds by any person, including without limitation Tim Miller” and Miller’s departure from the movie “Deadpool 2,” as well as any times Reynolds had “creative control of any film project.” (Miller didn’t answer right away when asked for a reaction.)
A legal hold letter is often sent before a lawsuit. Baldoni hasn’t sued Lively or Reynolds yet, but Freedman has said that he wants to sue the Hollywood power couple “into oblivion,” which means that Baldoni will soon. After the Times story came out, Baldoni was fired from WME, the agency he shared with Lively and Reynolds. Miller is also represented by WME.
Baldoni and a group of lawyers including Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel sued the Times in Los Angeles Superior Court. Lively then sued the plaintiffs in federal court with a lawsuit that was very similar to her CRD letter. Stephanie Jones, who used to work as Baldoni’s spokeswoman, sued him, Abel, and Nathan. Jones says that Baldoni broke his contract and that Nathan and Abel planned to go after her. It was proven by Lively’s lawyers that the text messages in her CRD letter and the Times story came from Jones’ company.
Nicepool says of Ladypool in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “She is beautiful.” You can’t even tell that she just had a baby. That sounds like the same thing Lively said about Baldoni: that he made similar comments about her weight after she had her fourth child. Baldoni’s case in the Times says that he asked their trainer about her weight because he had back problems that made it hard for him to lift heavy things.
Also Read: As Strike Ends, Marvel Adjusts Release Dates for “deadpool 3” and “captain America 4”
There is a mistake in the end credits of “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The man who plays Nicepool is named “Gordon Reynolds,” not Ryan Reynolds. In a strange turn of events, Lively thanks Gordon Reynolds in the credits of “It Ends With Us,” which seemed to connect the two events. Lively also wrote “about Nice men who use feminism as a tool” in an Instagram post on July 22 that tagged @deadpoolmovie and @itendswithusmovie.
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