Justin Baldoni has taken a stand against Blake Lively in response to the ongoing legal dispute.

In a recent development on Jan. 16, legal representatives for Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, launched a counter-lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, her publicist Leslie Sloane, and Vision PR, Inc.

The lawsuit is seeking $400 million in damages.

Baldoni, producer Jamey Heath, publicist Jennifer Abel, and crisis publicist Melissa Nathan alleged that Lively and Sloane orchestrated a deliberate smear campaign against the actor-director to gain leverage in the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover's popular novel, "It Ends With Us."

The lawsuit alleges civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.

The actor alleges that Lively was intent on portraying Baldoni as the enemy in her life story, aiming to divert focus from criticisms branding her "out of touch" in her promotional strategies for the movie.

But in a surprising twist, Baldoni also drags one of Lively's closest friends into the allegations. He claimed he experienced coercion from Reynolds and "another megacelebrity friend" of Lively's to grant her more control over the screenplay.

This started with Lively expressing interest in rewriting the rooftop scene from "It Ends With Us," where the characters Ryle and Lily have their initial encounter.

Allegations arose suggesting that the mother of four used her close relationship with Taylor Swift to influence him into picking her interpretation of the scene in the movie.

During a break in filming, Lively and Reynolds welcomed Baldoni to their New York City residence. Swift, then joined them and "began praising Lively's script."

In the legal complaint, it was noted that Baldoni was fully aware of the underlying message, that he was required to follow Lively's instructions regarding the script.

Following their discussion, Baldoni sent a text to Lively regarding the changes made to the script, saying, "Was working on rooftop scene today, I really love what you did. It really does hep [sic] a lot. Makes it so much more fun and interesting."

In addition, he expressed that his sentiments would have remained unchanged, despite the scene being "dramatically differed from what had been written originally," regardless of whether Swift and the "Deadpool" actor had openly praised Lively's changes.

According to the lawsuit, Baldoni "thanked Lively for her passion and diplomatically told her that the scene would likely end up being somewhere between the original version and Lively's version.

"You really are a talent across the board," Baldoni's texts sent to Lively said. "Really excited nd [sic] grateful to do this together."

Lively responded and described her husband and best friend as "embarrassingly effusive."

She texted Baldoni, "I think they wanted you and me to see how they felt about [the rewrites] because they've been by my side for far too many experiences where I've been overlooked."

Lively then compared herself and the iconic character Daenerys Targaryen from "Game of Thrones," also known as Khaleesi.

"For better or worse, but usually for better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for," the actress said in the texts. "So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you."

In his lawsuit, Baldoni strongly believed that the communication left no room for misinterpretation.

It was made abundantly clear to him that he would not only be interacting with Lively but would also have to "face Lively's 'dragons,' two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world, who were not afraid to make things very difficult for him."

According to Baldoni, describing the situation as challenging would be an understatement. He claims that Lively made daily changes to the script, leading to disruptions in the shooting schedule and putting immense pressure on the production team.

This caused financial difficulties for Baldoni's production company, which was responsible for producing the movie.

Tags
Taylor Swift, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds