Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds Ask Court to Silence Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer

The war is getting uglier between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively.

A day after Baldoni’s legal team released unedited footage of their dance scene in “It Ends with Us,” Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds’ legal team filed court papers requesting a protective order against his lawyer Bryan Freedman, who they accuse of improper conduct.

In Lively’s new filing, obtained by “Extra,” the docs argued, “His conduct threatens to, and will, materially prejudice both the Lively Case and the Wayfarer Case by tainting the jury pool, because his statements are deliberately aimed at undermining the ‘character, credibility, [and] reputation’ of numerous relevant parties, id. 3.6(b)[1], and likewise includes ‘information the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is likely to be inadmissible as evidence in a trial,’ thereby creating a substantial risk of prejudice not just for Ms. Lively, but for numerous other parties in the matters.”

In a statement at the beginning of the video, Baldoni’s legal team said, “Ms. Lively’s complaint alleges that during a scene Mr. Baldoni and Ms. Lively were filming for a slow dance montage, Mr. Baldoni was behaving inappropriately. The following videos captured on May 23, 2023, clearly refute Ms. Lively’s characterization of his behavior. The scene in question was designed to show the two characters falling in love and longing to be close to one another. Both actors are clearly behaving well within the scope of the scene and with mutual respect and professionalism. These are all three takes filmed of the sequence.”

Following the release of the video, Freedman told “Extra” that they are preparing to share even more receipts, explaining, “Justin and team have the right to defend themselves with the truth and this is what we will be continuing to show with the upcoming website containing all correspondence as well as relevant videos that directly squash her claims.”

According to her legal team, Freeman’s recent statements about the leaked video violated “Rule 3.6 of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which prevents “[a] lawyer who is participating in… a civil matter” from “mak[ing] an extrajudicial statement that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know will be disseminated by means of public communication and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter.”

“Mr. Freedman’s conduct is by design, not by accident, and this Court should consider carefully his history of litigating matters in the press when evaluating his request to be admitted pro hac vice, filed earlier today,” they wrote. “It is worth asking whether Wayfarer’s lawyers have any intention of abiding by Rule 3.6, or whether they intend to continue selectively releasing evidence, without context or an opportunity to be questioned on that evidence, in the public domain at the same time they purport to litigate this matter in court. Rule 3.6, of course, requires parties to decide whether they want a jury of their peers to decide their claims, or whether they prefer to let the court of public opinion do so—doing both at once creates an impermissible risk of interfering with the judicial process, and it is not tolerated under New York law or the law of any other relevant jurisdiction.”

Lively and Reynolds’ team is asking for a hearing to be scheduled as soon as possible to “address the appropriate conduct,” due to “imminent harm caused by Mr. Freedman’s misleading and selective statements and leaks.”

Hours after the release of the footage, Lively’s team called it a “stunt” that nonetheless proves her claims.

The statement read, “Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning. Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint.”

The team added, “The video shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character. Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present.  Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s co-star, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss.

“The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort. They will recognize her attempts at levity to try to deflect the unwanted touching. No woman should have to take defensive measures to avoid being touched by their employer without their consent.”