Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni Starring in 'It Ends With Us' Film
Colleen Hoover’s bestselling romance novel “It Ends With Us” is getting a film adaptation with Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni attached to star, Variety has confirmed.
The film is in development at Sony Pictures, with Baldoni set to direct and executive produce under his Wayfarer Studios banner, which is co-financing. Lively is also executive producing alongside Hoover, Steve Sarowitz and Andrew Calof. Alex Saks will produce for Saks Picture Company, along with Jamey Heath who will produce on behalf of Wayfarer Studios. Christy Hall (“I Am Not Okay With This”) penned the current screenplay and is also set to produce.
“It Ends With Us” follows small-town girl Lily, who moves to Boston to start her own business. Sparks immediately fly between her and neurosurgeon Ryle, but his “complete aversion to relationships is disturbing,” the book’s description reads. “Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his ‘no dating’ rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place. As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.”
Hoover is currently the highest-selling novelist in the U.S., writing five of the top 10 bestselling books of any genre last year, with over 20 million books sold. “It Ends With Us” ended 2022 as the top-selling print book and has been on the New York Times’ bestseller list for over 90 weeks. Baldoni and Wayfarer have been working closely with Hoover as a consultant on the film.
Known for her work in the TV series “Gossip Girl” and films like “A Simple Favor” and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” Lively made her directorial debut last year with Taylor Swift’s “I Bet You Think About Me” music video. She’s set to make her feature directorial debut with “Seconds,” an adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel, written and produced by Edgar Wright alongside Marc Platt.
Former “Jane the Virgin” star Baldoni is the co-founder of Wayfarer Studios, the mission of which is to “create purpose-driven, multi-platform film and television productions that elevate and speak to the human spirit,” according to a press release. Through the banner, he recently directed 2019’s “Five Feet Apart” and 2020’s “Clouds.”
Hall co-developed and executive produced Netflix series “I Am Not Okay With This” and is set to make her directorial debut with “Daddio,” starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn, which is currently in post-production. She is also penning the screenplay for the Sony film adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s “The Husband’s Secret,” starring Lively.
Lively is represented by WME, Entertainment 360, Vision PR and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern. Hall is repped by CAA, Grandview, and attorney Miles Metcoff at Yorn Levine. Baldoni is repped by WME and Jonesworks.
Deadline was first to report the news.
