Actor and director Justin Baldoni and his attorney, Bryan Freedman, have an unexpected history of being on opposing sides of the courtroom.
Before hiring Freedman to represent him in his current legal dispute with Blake Lively, Baldoni, 40, faced Freedman in a case involving copyright infringement and breach of contract related to Baldoni’s directorial debut, Five Feet Apart. The film is a romantic drama about two teenagers, Stella and Will, who fall in love while dealing with cystic fibrosis, a condition that requires them to stay physically apart for their health. The film stars Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson.
Court documents obtained by Us Weekly claim that Freedman previously represented Travis Flores, a writer with cystic fibrosis, who sued Baldoni in September 2021. Flores alleged that Baldoni and others had ‘stolen’ his script, titled Three Feet Distance.
According to the legal papers: “Flores kept his screenplay from Baldoni both because Flores had a policy of keeping his work confidential and because Baldoni was working on the feature film project that Flores viewed as competitive. “
Flores claimed that Baldoni got information about Three Feet Distance from another source and used parts of it in Five Feet Apart. The lawsuit accusing Baldoni of taking the script was dismissed in 2022 after Freedman filed a motion to dismiss. The lawsuit was settled, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Justin recently came under fire after he was accused by co-star Blake Lively of acting inappropriately. Lively’s legal action last month against her It Ends with Us co-star and director alleged not only sexual harassment but a concerted effort by shadowy PRs to smear the actress after she complained.
Court documents also claim that the “emotional impact on Ms. Lively has been extreme” with her husband Ryan Reynolds and four children all affected.
However, Baldoni hit back with his own lawsuit against Lively and her actor husband Ryan Reynolds – claiming they are running a smear campaign against him. The documents also claimed Lively’s PR “escalated the false narrative by telling…[a] reporter that Blake was ‘sexually assaulted’—an unsubstantiated accusation that not even Lively had gone so far as to claim, designed to destroy Baldoni and his reputation. “
Earlier this week, Baldoni’s legal team shared a 10 minute video in a bid to further refute sexual harassment claims. They believe the footage now shows there was no wrongdoing from Baldoni and think the words back up their claims. They have previously said the star has ‘nothing to hide’ and feel the footage backs this up.
The footage, obtained by Page Six, opens with a statement from his team. They state that Lively claimed in her suit that he was “behaving inappropriately” during a slow dancing scene. However, the footage, which was filmed in May 2023, has been shown to try to deny her claims. Lively had previously insisted the footage had no audio.
The statement read: “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 in sequence. “
The clip showed the pair filming a slow dance scene for the movie. It also shared audio of the duo engaging in small talk. As the actress told her co-star she felt it was “more romantic” to talk while they danced, the actors later embraced and put their heads together. Lively then joked that she felt “so nosey,” referring to their noses touching. Baldoni joked back: “I know. And my nose is so big. “
Other comments heard in the footage had Baldoni joking he was probably “getting beard” on Lively. She responded that she was probably getting spray tan on him before he told her: “It smells good. ” Lively then tells him: ‘Well it’s not that, it’s my body makeup. ’
The Mirror has contacted Baldoni’s representatives for comment.
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Source: Mirror
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