Here's how a group of fans changed the movie adaptation of “It Ends With Us”

"They were right and I was wrong," screenwriter Christy Hall tells Entertainment Weekly.

Bringing It Ends With Us from the page to the screen was not something the team behind the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover's hit romantic drama took lightly.

Screenwriter-producer Christy Hall tells Entertainment Weekly that she "lost sleep" thinking about how she was responsible for adapting such a beloved book — not only for fans of Hoover's, but also for the author herself since the story is based on her parents' relationship. That's why Hall and director-star Justin Baldoni went straight to the source to make sure they were doing the book justice.

Related: Justin Baldoni says backlash over aging up It Ends With Us characters 'didn't really bother' him

"There are things that we changed and massaged and explored, but we really wanted to get it right," Hall tells EW. "So we did a really cool thing where a couple drafts in, [production company Wayfarer Studios] invited Colleen to Los Angeles, and then they put out a thing on Instagram and Twitter to say, 'Who's a huge fan of this book? Who wants to have an early read of the script and give their thoughts?'"

Hall explains that Wayfarer Studios had an open application where LA-based fans could write in to explain why they loved the book and why they were the right person to help make the movie version better.

"They hand selected, I think there were 20 megafans that had to sign an NDA and came in," Hall says. "They printed off scripts for them, hard copies. This was an early draft of mine. They read the script, we all had lunch, and then we did a roundtable with me, Wayfarer, Colleen was there, and just asked the fans questions like, 'What did you like most? What did you feel like was missing?'"

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The roundtable discussion went on for three hours where the group of fans went over the film script and gave their honest opinions — and Hall used all their notes for her next rewrite. "It was just incredible to be guided by actual fans [who said], 'This was a scene I really missed,' or, 'I really liked that you did this or that,' or, 'Even though that's not in the book, it felt like it could have been in the book,'" Hall says. "And so that was a really remarkable experience early on."

It Ends With Us, the first of Hoover's books to be adapted for the big screen, centers on Lily (Blake Lively), a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood with an abusive father to begin a new life in Boston. Things seem to be on track as she follows her dreams to open her own flower shop, but when she falls in love with charming neurosurgeon Ryle (Baldoni), she begins to realize his abusive behavior only continues the harmful cycle she's been trying to escape her whole life. Their toxic love is further complicated when Lily's childhood love, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar), reappears in her life, upending everything she thought she knew and wanted.

The idea to bring in the focus group to give notes came directly from Baldoni's Wayfarer Studios, and Hall thinks it was "really smart" to "activate" the fans early on in the adaptation process. "It was really good to hear things that they bumped on or things that they didn't necessarily miss," Hall says. "It was good to test things."

Related: Justin Baldoni didn't want to play Ryle in It Ends With Us until Colleen Hoover convinced him (exclusive)

Hall, for example, changed smaller details like the name of Atlas' restaurant from Bib's (a.k.a. Better In Boston) to Root, to thematically tie together other important aspects of the story. She was pleasantly surprised that, although the group of fans questioned her decision, they accepted her change and weren't precious about evolving the story. "It was fun to test things like, 'Is that going to massively bum you out?'" she remembers asking. "And they were like, 'No, no, no. We were just wondering why.'"

But there was one edit she made from the book that almost incited a (figurative) riot. At a crucial point in the story, Lily says the title It Ends With Us out loud, and Hall omitted that from her script. "As a screenwriter, a big no-no is you don't want any character to ever say the title of the film," she explains. "So in my initial draft, the draft that they read, I had her say the line, 'It stops here, between you and me,' blah, blah, blah. I didn't have her say, 'It ends with us.'"

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The reaction to her changing that line was swift and intense. "The entire room of 20 megafans were like, 'You have to say it!'" Hall remembers. "I was like, 'I'm sorry, forgive me! I was testing it out!' It was like a wall of voices screaming at me, 'She has to say it!'"

Hall's defense of why she made the edit didn't sway any of the fans. "I went, 'Typically you don't say the [title],' and they were like, 'It doesn't matter. In this movie, she has to,'" she says. "And I have to say, now, when I really watch the film, I'm like, 'They were right and I was wrong.' It's different in this movie. It is."

She doesn't regret trying out a different version of that line, but "you need a talent like Blake Lively to pull it off, where it doesn't take you out [of the movie]. It actually is now my favorite moment in the film. It's so honest, it's so real, it's so raw. I find her performance to be really profound, so I am grateful that it's in there, and as it should be. I love that they read an early draft and they just didn't let me get away with it for one second."

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Related: Blake Lively and Colleen Hoover promise It Ends With Us movie is satisfying for fans of the book

The original line from the book now stays intact in the movie, and that wouldn't have happened without the focus group of fans fighting to keep it. "That was a really funny moment because sometimes they'd be split on things, but that one was a resounding, 100 percent out of 100 percent were like, 'How dare you?!'" Hall says with a laugh. "And I was like, 'I'm so sorry. I must be absolved of this sin.'"

After the roundtable ended, Hall got the approval from the two most important people: Hoover and her mother, who was the inspiration for the book. "Colleen brought her mother, which was incredible because her mom's story sparked the whole thing, and getting to meet her was such an honor and a privilege," Hall says. "I remember Colleen and I ended up out on the sidewalk together with her mom, and I just said to her, 'You could have chosen anyone, and I'm just so grateful that you endorsed me to be the one to do this. Thank you for trusting me with your baby.'"

Hall continues, "She smiled at me and she was like, 'Honestly, Christy, you've done a really great job,' and I've never forgotten that moment. If Colleen doesn't love it, then it's like I have failed. But she said, 'You did a great job.' It was just this sweet moment out on the sidewalk, and I wasn't even done yet, but she just could just see the care that was going into it. I just didn't want to let her down."

It Ends With Us opens in theaters Aug. 9.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.