Taylor Swift's texts were revealed in the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni legal case.
Blake Lively's 2024 communications with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and his wife Lucy Damon were unsealed in Lively's ongoing legal battle with Justin Baldoni and his "It Ends With Us" producing partners.
Within the hundreds of exhibits that were unsealed Jan. 20, are alleged texts and emails from May 2024, which Baldoni's defense attorneys previously filed as exhibits in the New York civil case. In them, Lively laments about her challenges with the film, which Baldoni directed and starred in opposite Lively, and asks the Hollywood A-listers to watch and critique the version of "It Ends With Us" that she'd cut together.
USA TODAY has reached out to reps for Affleck and Damon for comment.
In an apparent group chat with the Damons, Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds, accepted the couple's offer to watch the film, adding it was "such a zero pressure ask." He also called the project "one of the all time zingers on and off set. One day, we'll make a movie about the movie."
Lively seconded in "adding more zeroes to the pressure" and went on to unveil her complaints about Baldoni, telling the Damons that "this movie nearly killed me. The director/costar/producer/financier/head of the studio (yes all one person) had zero experience."
Lively was credited as a producer on the film. The company Baldoni cofounded with Executive Producer Steve Sarowitz, Wayfarer Studios, was one of the production companies behind the movie.
"What I didn't anticipate was having to do everything on this movie. I rewrote the entire script. I directed every actor. The [director of photography] came to me whenever he couldn't get anything from him. So, way too often," Lively wrote.
She later claimed that distributor Sony Pictures Releasing was "looking for every reason not to use his cut." She was given "10 days to assemble an edit to compete with one [Baldoni has] been making since July." She and Reynolds invited the Damons' daughters to the "family and friends" screening of Lively's cut in New York the following day.
Matt Damon replied, "We'll give you any help we can. And if this experience hasn't totally destroyed your soul, Blake, you should come direct your next movie at Artists Equity," the production company he cofounded with Affleck.
Lucy Damon, a partner at the company who's credited with producing "The Rip" and "The Instigators," chimed in: "Of course! We're happy to watch and [hopefully] be helpful."
USA TODAY has reached out to a spokesperson for Sony for comment.
Hours before this exchange with the Damons on May 17, another exhibit showed Lively appearing to send an email to Matt Damon's longtime filmmaking partner Affleck to feel out whether he's "willing to watch the movie and give me any ideas or notes."
"If your wife or kids are around, I'd love their opinion also (FYI, it does cover domestic violence so no one is caught off guard)," she wrote to Affleck. "I'm such a fan of Jennifer's, I've told her as much every time I've met her, and it would be an honor to have her take."
She opened up about "It Ends With Us" being "the most upsetting experience I've ever had on a movie. The making-of doc of this film would be more interesting than the movie could ever be." She later added, "If I would've just formally directed it, it would've been much easier."
Lively and Baldoni's attorneys returned to a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, Jan. 22, to hash out issues including the defense's motion to end the legal battle without going to trial and Lively's request for sanctions against the defendants for allegedly failing to preserve their communications.
The legal battle commenced at the end of 2024, when Lively filed a California complaint alleging sexual harassment and retaliation by Baldoni and Heath, which was followed by a lawsuit filed in New York federal court. The ongoing case focuses on her allegations after the claims in Baldoni's defamation lawsuits against Lively and Reynolds, and a separate one against The New York Times, were dismissed.