The Blake Lively vs Justin Baldoni saga has just got even more messy and damn, it really did not end with them.
Baldoni’s legal team has now dragged Disney and Marvel into this hullabaloo, demanding they hang onto every scrap of info about Ryan Reynolds‘ Nicepool character from Deadpool & Wolverine.
If you somehow missed this Hollywood drama, you probably touch more grass than me, but let’s catch you up anyways. Blake Lively has launched a lawsuit against her former co-star and director Justin Baldoni accusing him of sexual harrassment on the It Ends With Us set and allegedly orchestrating a “smear campaign” to destroy Lively’s career.
Baldoni has since launched a lawsuit of his own against the New York Times for their reporting on Lively’s complaint and his legal team has promised a counter-suit aimed at Lively and Reynolds.
On January 7, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, fired off a litigation hold letter to Marvel president Kevin Feige and Disney CEO Bob Iger.
The letter calls on the studio to preserve all relevant documents and data related to Baldoni, including “any and all documents relating to the development of the ‘Nicepool’ character” and “communications relating to the development, writing, and filming of storylines and scenes featuring ‘Nicepool’”, as reported by Variety.
But why, you ask? Well it seems Baldoni reckons Reynolds used Nicepool to take the piss out of him and he’s not having it. The letter asks for Disney to retain “all documents relating to or reflecting a deliberate attempt to mock, harass, ridicule, intimidate, or bully Baldoni through the character of ‘Nicepool’”. Yikes.
Earlier this month Freedman went on Megyn Kelly‘s show to share his theory on the Baldoni-Nicepool connection. “There’s no question it relates to Justin. I mean, anybody that watched that hair bun,” he said.
He went on to say that if Reynolds and Lively had merit in their complaints towards Baldoni — which includes accusations of sexual harrassment — they wouldn’t have referenced Baldoni in the movie.
“If somebody is seriously sexually harassed, you don’t make fun of it. It’s a serious issue,” Freedman said.
“You file HR complaints, you raise the issue and you follow a legal process. What you don’t do is mock the person and turn it into a joke.”
According to this thread on X, these are the main reasons why Nicepool’s lines are being seen as pointed jabs at Baldoni:
- The hair: Nicepool rocks a man bun, which Baldoni was known for until 2023. Coincidence? Freedman doesn’t think so.
- Body comments: Nicepool compliments Ladypool (played by Lively) on her post-baby appearance saying, “She just had a baby too, and you can’t even tell”. This mirrors Lively’s allegations that Baldoni made inappropriate comments about her post-partum body during the filming of It Ends With Us.
- Feminist claims: When called out for misogyny in the movie, Nicepool declares, “It’s okay, I identify as a feminist”. This could be a dig at Baldoni who publicly considers himself a feminist.
- Intimacy coordinator comments: In the movie Nicepool asks, “Where in God’s name is the intimacy coordinator?!” This aligns with Lively’s claim that she had to demand an intimacy coordinator for the film because Baldoni allegedly “inserted improvised gratuitous sexual content and/or scenes involving nudity into the film in highly unsettling ways”, per Daily Mail.
It is worth mentioning that Deadpool & Wolverine had been in production since October 2022, wrapping in January 2024 and filming for It Ends With Us began in May 2023. Although both were in the works well before the public allegations against Baldoni surfaced, who knows what happened behind closed doors during that overlap.
The letter from Freedman also instructs the studio to preserve any documents and data “relating to complaints made against Ryan Reynolds by any person, including without limitation Tim Miller”. Deadpool was directed by Miller until he left the franchise in 2016 due to creative differences with Reynolds.
“It became clear that Ryan wanted to be in control of the franchise,” Miller told KCRW.
“You can work that way as a director, quite successfully, but I can’t. I don’t mind having a debate, but if I can’t win, I don’t want to play. And I don’t think you can negotiate every creative decision, there’s too many to make,” he continued.
So, what’s next in this Hollywood saga? Will Reynolds respond with a Nicepool spin-off? Will Disney CEO Bob Iger have to testify about hair buns? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure – this legal battle is far from over.
