Having been dropped by WME and sued by Blake Lively for sexual harassment and an alleged online smear campaign, Justin Baldoni has now made it clear he never ever wants to work on a Disney project.
That’s certainly the tone and likely immediate impact of a January 7 letter sent to CEO Bob Iger and Marvel boss Kevin Feige from the It Ends With Us co-star/director’s team demanding Disney “preserve evidence” related to last year’s massive hit Deadpool & Wolverine.
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The correspondence was sent in anticipation of the expected “commencement of litigation against” the Merc with a Mouth himself Ryan Reynolds and Lively, it says.
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This isn’t the first time Reynolds has been mentioned in filings or conversations around the increasingly bitter dispute between Lively and Baldoni over what went on during and after the making of It Ends With Us, the film about domestic abuse based on Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel. A-lister leading man Reynolds has made plenty of cameos in almost all of the suits, but now, in a classic distraction tactic, he’s the star attraction.
Looking to scoop up all and anything related to the Reynolds- and Hugh Jackman-starring Deadpool & Wolverine, which saw a masked cameo by Lively as Ladypool, the five-page correspondence from Baldoni’s pugilistic lawyer Bryan Freedman wants to leave no rock, smartphone, contract, ““Blackberry devices,” paperwork, or floppy disk unturned.
Not a lawsuit but certainly an indication of one to come, the shot-across-the-bow letter, a copy of which has been obtained by Deadline, also tosses a grenade into the already explosive and multi-lawsuit situation.
Almost buried among the demands on Disney/Marvel from Baldoni’s side, there’s an ask for “all documents and communications relating to complaints of sexual or other harassment asserted against Ryan Reynolds by any person.”
WTF?
Though Lively cites numerous instances of alleged sexual harassment, body shaming and more by Baldoni during the 2023 production of It Ends With Us in her own legal action, there has been zero indication of any such behavior by her blockbuster hubby – and this innuendo-leaning letter offers nothing to substantiate such accusations. There is also a hope to haul director Tim Miller, who helmed the first Deadpool movie and was reported to have had friction with Reynolds, into the ever-expanding Lively vs Baldoni saga.
Clickbait aside, the real guts of the clearly not-so-nice letter is all about the character of Nicepool, the longhaired, duplicitous, empathic version of Deadpool that shows up about halfway through the superhero flick, which has grossed $1.34 billion to date at the worldwide box office.
Among the bullet-point demands in the letter to Iger (who is currently running Disney’s response to the L.A. wildfires and the losses suffered by staffers out of a hotel due to his own evacuation, I hear) and Feige are some clear words about how unkindly Baldoni feels he has been treated by Reynolds in the third Deadpool flick.
“I don’t think you can say that,” says Reynolds’ Deadpool to Reynolds’ Nicepool at one point in the movie, after the latter had remarked on how the “gorgeous” Ladypool “just had a baby too, and you can’t even tell. With not an ounce of self-awareness, Nicepool quips, “That’s okay, I identify as a feminist.”
To that, the letter asks Disney to preserve for a possible lawsuit:
- Any and all documents relating to the development of the “Nicepool” character in Deadpool & Wolverine, including without limitation all documents and communications relating to the development, writing, and filming of storylines and scenes featuring “Nicepool”
- Any and all documents relating to or reflecting any deliberate attempt to link the character of “Nicepool” to Justin Baldoni
- Any and all documents relating to or reflecting a deliberate attempt to mock, harass, ridicule, intimidate, or bully Baldoni through the character of “Nicepool”
“There’s no question it relates to Justin,” Freedman told pal and client Megyn Kelly earlier this month. “I mean, anybody that watched that hair bun — if somebody is seriously sexually harassed, you don’t make fun of it. It’s a serious issue.”
Now, with most Hollywood business on hold because of the wildfires, which left Freedman’s own home in ashes among thousands of others in the Palisades and elsewhere in Los Angeles County, there has been no legal action against either Lively or Reynolds brought by Baldoni, his PR team of Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, or others named in Lively’s December 20 complaint to California’s Civil Rights Department that brought this not-so-secret It Ends With Us tension to the surface.
Of course, Lively did launch a formal sexual harassment and retaliation suit against Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios, Nathan, Abel and others on New Year’s Eve. That was the same day that Baldoni and gang went after the New York Times for $250 million with accusations that the Gray Lady cherry-picked text seemingly derogatory message and more for the Jane the Virgin alum’s crisis PR team in a well-researched December 21 article on Lively’s CRD filing.
As a sideshow of sorts, there’s also the Christmas Eve defamation and breach of contract action from Stephanie Jones, the head of Baldoni’s old PR firm, in New York state court against Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios and publicists Nathan and Abel.
As of now, no one’s really talking about this latest missive. Freedman gets a pass because of his loss from the fires, and Lively’s team did not respond to request for comment on the letter to Disney when contacted by Deadline. Folks over at Disney and Marvel also were nowhere to be found on this when we sought to contact them.
If either Disney or Lively’s reps respond, this post will be updated.
In the meantime, be safe, the winds are expected to pick up again for the next day or so — and play nice.
Variety was first to report the news of the letter to Disney.