What Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni Said About Using Intimacy Coordinators: 'Critical for Everyone's Safety'

Director-star Justin Baldoni said "there was no way we could" make 'It Ends With Us' without intimacy coordinators

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have both spoken in separate interviews about working with intimacy coordinators while making It Ends With Us.

The costars depict a whirlwind relationship that turns toxic and abusive in the film, which is an adaptation of the 2016 bestseller by author Colleen Hoover.

Chelsea Cary and Lizzy Talbot are credited as intimacy coordinators on the project, and Baldoni, also the director, told Harper's Bazaar India that the filmmaking team "knew from the very beginning that there was no way we could do this movie without intimacy coordinators," as well as stunt coordinators.

"It was so important to have them on set — not just so that we could all feel safe, but because they were also incredible collaborators with wonderful ideas that really elevated the film," said Baldoni, 40.

"... Having them on set and always in my eye line was invaluable because at any point I could look to one of them for a thumbs up, or we’d work on another approach together," said Baldoni. "They were such an important and integral part of our process."

Also a producer, Lively, 36, told Digital Spy it was "critical" to have an intimacy coordinator's involvement on set.

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"You coordinate stunts, you coordinate dancing. It is choreography. So to be able to say 'This is what happens here, here and here' in a stunt, and 'This is what happens here, here and here' in a dance, but 'Now you guys just go put your bodies together and your mouths and whatever, and action and cut,' that's ridiculous. I think that being choreographed is critical for everyone's safety."

At the film's New York City premiere, Baldoni told The Hollywood Reporter that acting out the scenes involving domestic violence was "very hard for me."

"There were a lot of times where I would have to go privately into a room and just cry or shake it out and try to get him out of me and that energy out of me, because it’s too real," he said. "There are too many people that are the real-life Lily Blooms of the world that have to deal with that every single day, and I wanted it to be as real as possible and yet it was very hard to shoot those scenes."

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Baldoni also told the outlet that he deferred to costar Lively and their "incredible" female coordinators in those scenes.

"Honestly, between those three women, they really were the ones choreographing and navigating all of those scenes because I needed to play Ryle. In those moments, to be perfectly frank, I really wasn’t the director; it was those women who were in charge," he said.

"From the beginning I wanted all the intimate scenes to be from a female gaze and I never wanted my bias to potentially interject and go into the film," Baldoni added. "So I kind of stepped back and felt all the things and allowed myself to do the work and shook it off as best I could."

Lively recently shared resources for survivors of domestic violence on her Instagram Story with a message to fans for supporting the film's message.

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"It Ends With Us is a story of the female experience. Al the highest highs, and lowest lows. And we are so proud of it," she continued. "We have been in celebration of this film and of getting a message so important out there to the masses."

Lively added, "Thank you all for embracing It Ends With Us with the same love, pain and joy we had sharing it with you all."

After reports of a rift among the main It Ends With Us cast and noticeable distance between Lively and Baldoni, who did not appear together during the press tour, a source told PEOPLE the tension goes beyond creative differences. "All is not what it seems. There is much more to this story. The principal cast and Colleen Hoover will have nothing to do with" Baldoni, said the source.

It Ends With Us is in theaters now.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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