Los Angeles, Jan 23 (.) Lawyers for Justin Baldoni appeared in court on Thursday, seeking to have Blake Lively’s lawsuit against him dismissed. Lively alleges sexual harassment and retaliation during and after the filming of their 2024 movie ‘It Ends With Us’, Variety reports.
Baldoni’s legal team argued that the disputed interactions occurred during the improvisation of intimate scenes, which they claim does not constitute gender-based harassment.
“I don’t know if the court is familiar with the show Heated Rivalry,” attorney Jonathan Bach told the courtroom, prompting laughter when U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman admitted he was not.
Bach explained that the HBO Max gay romance series featured several explicit scenes and used this to counter Lively’s lawyer, Esra Hudson, who argued that Baldoni’s improvisation did not excuse unwanted touching, kissing, and nuzzling, which could support a gender-based discrimination claim.
Bach asked the court to consider whether similar improvisation between two men in such a scene could trigger a gender-based claim.
According to Variety, Bach repeatedly stressed that any touching between Baldoni and Lively stemmed from the characters’ relationship in the film, not Lively’s gender.
Opening his argument, he noted that Lively signed on to ‘It Ends With Us’ knowing it would feature “intimate scenes” described as “steamy and turbulent.”
Judge Liman quickly pushed back, clarifying that he did not mean the sexual subject matter gave Baldoni carte blanche to touch Lively.
Bach agreed and emphasized that context matters, arguing that any “awkward” moments arose from the pursuit of the film’s aesthetic and dismissed Lively’s claims as “small potatoes” that did not meet the legal threshold for sexual harassment.
Lively’s attorney, Esra Hudson, focused on the issue of consent. She described how Lively was “kissed and touched” in ways she had not agreed to, despite understanding the film included intimate scenes.
Hudson cited disputed events, including an interaction with executive producer Jamey Heath, where Lively and her hair and makeup team said “no” when Heath entered a partially nude Lively’s room, while Heath claimed he was invited in.
Hudson stressed that improvisation does not remove the need for consent, highlighting the importance of nudity riders and intimacy coordinators to set clear boundaries.
She argued that Lively’s discomfort and body language indicated a lack of consent and that whether a reasonable person would have reacted similarly should be determined by a jury.
Judge Liman took the arguments under submission and will issue a ruling on Baldoni’s motion at a later date. The case is scheduled for trial in May, with Liman potentially narrowing the scope of allegations for jury consideration.
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