EXCLUSIVE: Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are attached to star in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel It Ends With Us, which is in development with Wayfarer Studios and Sony Pictures. Baldoni is also set to direct, with Christy Hall adapting the script.
Alex Saks will produce for Saks Picture Company, along with Jamey Heath, who will produce on behalf of Wayfarer Studios. Lively and Hoover are executive producing along with Steve Sarowitz, Andrew Calof and Baldoni on behalf of Wayfarer, which is also co-financing. Hall is also producing.
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The story follows a girl named Lily who has just moved and is ready to start her life after college. Lily then meets a guy named Ryle and she falls for him. As she is developing feelings for Ryle, Atlas, her first love, reappears and challenges the relationship between Lily and Ryle.
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After becoming a “BookTok” cultural phenomenon with more than 2 billion views on her TikTok hashtag, Hoover currently is the best-selling novelist in the U.S., with over 20 million books sold, and she wrote five of the 10 bestselling print books of any genre in 2022. Published in 43 languages, It Ends With Us was the top-selling print book of 2022, has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for over 90 weeks.
The novel was optioned in 2019 by Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, who have been working with Hoover, who is consulting on the film.
Lively is coming off her directorial debut with Taylor Swift’s 2021 music video for “I Bet You Think About Me,” which earned her two ACM Award nominations and a CMA nomination. Lively is set to reprise her role in the upcoming A Simple Favor sequel with Anna Kendrick, and Paul Feig retuning to direct. She will make her feature directorial debut for Searchlight with the adaptation of the Bryan Lee O’Malley graphic novel Seconds, written and produced by Edgar Wright, alongside Marc Platt.
Baldoni is known for his starring role on the CW’s Jane the Virgin, but since then has moved more behind the camera with such films as Clouds and Five Feet Apart among his directing and producing credits. He hosts the Webby-nominated podcast The Man Enough Podcast, which investigates the nuances of masculinity. Most recently he’s added author to his credits, having penned his inaugural book Man Enough: Undefining My Masculinity in 2021 and most recently Boys Will Be Human, which is a New York Times bestseller.
Hall co-developed and executive produced the Netflix/21 Laps 2020 series I Am Not Ok With This, an adaptation of Charles Foreman’s acclaimed graphic novel. She recently made her directorial debut with Daddio, which she adapted from her play of the same name. Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn star in the movie, which is currently in post. Hall also wrote the English-language remake of Joachim Trier’s film Thelma for FilmNation and Craig Gillespie, and adapted Hold Back the Stars for Dan Cohen at 21 Laps and Lionsgate, and Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon for Vertigo and Village Roadshow. She is also writing the screenplay for The Husband’s Secret, based on Liane Moriarty’s bestseller and in development at Sony Pictures, In TV, Hall recently served as consulting producer on Apple’s Servant.
Lively is represented by WME, Entertainment 360 and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern. Hall is repped by CAA, Grandview, and attorney Miles Metcoff at Yorn Levine. Baldoni is repped by WME.