Lana Del Rey was another point of tension on the set of It Ends With Us. In a recent interview with Hits Radio UK, the actress said that she was “begged” to remove “Cherry” from the singer’s Lust for Life album from a pivotal scene in the film.
During the interview, the reporter expressed excitement at having heard the song in the movie. Lively lit up with excitement — and likely, vindication that she was right — as she revealed, “They begged me to take that song out of the movie.” She doesn’t specify who she means by “they,” but the release of It Ends With Us has been marred by drama between Lively and her co-star (and the film’s director) Justin Baldoni.
When asked why there was pushback on the song, Lively rolled her eyes and muttered, “I’m not supposed to be talking about this.” She did it, anyway. “They felt like it was too charged and heavy,” the actress explained. At the point that “Cherry” appears in the film, Lily Blossom Bloom (Lively) reconnects with her former high school love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), after years apart. By then, she’s already dating Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) but starting to see more of his abusive tendencies and dangerous temperament.
Lively added that she was told that “things were still good with Ryle at that point, so you don’t want to feel that charge.” The notion that “things were still good” while a character is uncovering patterns of abuse speaks to the tension between the tone of the film’s content and how it’s actually presented. Either way, Lively disagreed.
“I was like, the moment Atlas enters, things are charged and heavy,” she explained. “There’s conflict, there’s pain, there’s turmoil, there’s tension. Because you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, my soulmate — the one that got away, the person that’s haunting me in everything I do and everywhere I go — is here now, and we still have that connection.’ “
It Ends With Us was written by Christy Hall and Colleen Hoover, whose book the film is based on. Baldoni served as director but has volleyed the ball into Lively’s court to take over the role should its sequel — It Starts With Us — be developed. “I think there are better people for that one,” Baldoni told Entertainment Tonight. “I think Blake Lively is ready to direct. That’s what I think.”
If Lively directs It Starts With Us, she can smuggle in as many Lana Del Rey songs as her heart desires.
