Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni To Star In “It Ends With Us”; Baldoni Directing Sony And Wayfarer Studios’ Colleen Hoover Novel Adaptation
The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel It Ends With Us, which is in development with Wayfarer Studios and Sony Pictures, will star Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Baldoni will also direct, with Christy Hall writing the script.
Alex Saks will produce for Saks Picture Company, with Jamey Heath producing for Wayfarer Studios. Wayfarer, which is also co-financing, is executive producing with Lively and Hoover, as well as Steve Sarowitz, Andrew Calof, and Baldoni. Hall is also a producer.
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The plot revolves around Lily, a young woman who has recently moved and is eager to begin her life after college. Lily then meets Ryle and falls in love with him. Atlas, her first love, reappears and challenges Lily and Ryle’s relationship just as she is developing feelings for him.
Hoover is the best-selling novelist in the United States, with over 20 million books sold, and she wrote five of the ten bestselling print books of any genre in 2022, after becoming a “BookTok” cultural phenomenon with more than 2 billion views on her TikTok hashtag. It Ends With Us, which was published in 43 languages, was the best-selling print book of 2022 and spent more than 90 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List.
Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios optioned the novel in 2019, and have been working with Hoover, who is consulting on the film.
Lively made her directorial debut with Taylor Swift’s 2021 music video for “I Bet You Think About Me,” for which she received two ACM Award nominations and a Country Music Association nomination. Lively is set to reprise her role in the upcoming A Simple Favor sequel, which will also star Anna Kendrick and be directed by Paul Feig. She will make her Searchlight feature directorial debut with Seconds, an adaptation of the Bryan Lee O’Malley graphic novel written and produced by Edgar Wright and Marc Platt.
Baldoni is best known for his starring role on the CW’s Jane the Virgin, but he has since moved more behind the camera, directing and producing films such as Clouds and Five Feet Apart.
He is the host of the Webby-nominated podcast The Man Enough Podcast, which delves into the complexities of masculinity.
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He recently added author to his resume, having written his first book, Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity in 2021, and his most recent book, Boys Will Be Human, which is a New York Times bestseller.
I Am Not Ok With This, a Netflix/21 Laps 2020 series based on Charles Foreman’s acclaimed graphic novel, was co-created and executive produced by Hall. Daddio, which she adapted from her play of the same name, was her directorial debut. The film, which is currently in post-production, stars Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn.
Hall also adapted Dan Cohen’s Hold Back the Stars for 21 Laps and Lionsgate. As well as Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon for Vertigo and Village Roadshow. She is also working on the screenplay for The Husband’s Secret. A film based on Liane Moriarty’s best-selling novel. And currently in development at Sony Pictures. Hall recently worked as a consultant producer on Apple’s Servant.
WME, Entertainment 360, and Sloane, Offer, Weber, and Dern represent Lively. CAA, Grandview, and Yorn Levine attorney Miles Metcoff represent Hall. WME represents Baldoni.
