Justin Baldoni‘s legal team released a series of video takes from “It Ends With Us” on Tuesday as they continue to push back on Blake Lively‘s sexual harassment claims.
Lively sued Baldoni, the film’s director and co-star, earlier this month for harassment and retaliation, accusing him of a series of inappropriate and offensive interactions during production. Among them, she objected to his conduct during filming of a slow-dance sequence, when their characters are supposed to be falling in love.
In the suit, she alleged that Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘it smells so good.’”
Baldoni’s team released three takes from the slow-motion sequence, which they said was the entirety of the footage shot for that scene.
“Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism,” a title card states.
The footage shows the two co-stars disagreeing about how to portray the intimacy of the scene. At one point in the footage, Baldoni goes in for a kiss and Lively hesitates. She then says, “I think we should be talking. I think it’s more romantic if we’re like dancing and talking.”
Baldoni then contrasts their respective relationships, saying that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, “talk all the time,” but that he and his wife, Emily, will sometimes just stare at each other.
“I think you would find it terrifying,” he says. She responds: “I’d be like, ‘Oh no, I found a sociopath.’”
Baldoni filed his own suit against Lively last week. In it, he said that Lively was “unable to take direction,” and kept talking out of character during the slow-dance sequence.
The footage appears to show the interaction that Lively objected to, in which Baldoni made reference to her smelling good. In the take, Baldoni is seen nuzzling Lively’s neck, and asks, “Am I getting beard on you today?”
She laughs and says, “I’m probably getting spray-tan on you.”
“It smells good,” he responds.
Lively’s lawsuit alleges that “Mr. Baldoni was caressing Mr. Lively with his mouth in a way that had nothing to do with their roles.” According to the complaint, she later objected to his behavior, and his response was: “I’m not even attracted to you.”
Lively’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the video.