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Ryan Reynolds tried to bully Sony Pictures into taking Blake Lively’s side over the backlash to her promo campaign for It Ends With Us - even as executives slammed her ‘epic level stupid’ PR moves in private, text messages obtained by the Daily Mail reveal.
The messages, exchanged by Reynolds, 49, and talent agent Warren Zavala, 52, are part of a tranche of newly unsealed documents released from court after Lively’s long-running legal case against her co-star and director Justin Baldoni collapsed.
Lively sued the former Jane the Virgin star over alleged sexual harassment and claimed he had created the backlash by getting crisis PR Melissa Nathan and Texas content creator Jed Wallace to plant negative stories about her.
Ten of the 13 claims, including all the claims against Baldoni personally such as sex harassment and the orchestration of a smear campaign – were summarily tossed in April, and he and Lively settled the few remaining claims against his studio and production company in May.
Now, the newly-released redacted messages reveal how Reynolds tried to pin the blame for the backlash on Sony’s marketing efforts and hinted Baldoni was behind it.
The furious Deadpool star also accused the mega-studio of ‘bullsh***ing’ him and demanded they kill a disobliging story about his actress wife.
Ryan Reynolds tried to push Sony Pictures into taking his wife Blake Lively's side over the backlash to her promo campaign for It Ends With Us, text messages newly obtained by the Daily Mail reveal
The backlash arose out of a series of missteps during the It Ends With Us promotional tour, which included criticism over Lively's choice of fashionable outfits – deemed unsuitable given the movie's domestic violence subject matter – and a storm over a flippant joke she made in answer to a serious question over whether domestic abuse survivors should approach her in public.
Lively also faced heavy fire over her decision to launch a new haircare range during the promotion period and due to snowballing reports about friction between her and Baldoni on set.
In August 2024, when the messages were sent, the promo campaign for the movie was already in full swing and reports of on set drama were beginning to leak out – before bursting spectacularly into the open that December when Lively sued.
Zavala attempted to placate Reynolds by suggesting getting people to come forward with positive stories about Lively to counter the claims, but added of Baldoni's camp: ‘I have to assume they have a cadre of things they plan to utilize within the bounds of production to make her look bad.'
That wasn’t enough for a furious Reynolds, who texted: ‘They [Sony] need to frame it the right way! This isn’t hard. The sentence needs to start with… feels like they’re trying to thread the needle.
‘They just need to go f***ing straight at this.’
Reynolds then added a draft statement for Sony to put out, telling Zavala they should write: ‘Sony would like to acknowledge the predominant narrative around IEWU [It Ends With Us].
‘This is incredibly wrong. And untrue. This is part of a systematic and coordinated campaign by a crisis PR team.’
The messages were exchanged between Ryan Reynolds, 49, and talent agent Warren Zavala, 52, in August 2024 as the promo campaign for It Ends With Us was already in full swing and reports of onset drama were beginning to leak out
At one point, a furious Reynolds wrote up his own draft statement for Sony to put out. He demanded it be sent to Sony's marketing team so they could address it 'immediately'
Reynolds admitted in one text that 'our back are against the wall' and that Sony needed to 'stop bullsh***ing us and get in front'
Reynolds's drafted statement was never released.
A source close to Reynolds noted that he had simply been trying to protect his wife. The insider said: 'It is no secret that Ryan believed his wife was being targeted by a crisis PR team hired by Baldoni.
'This is the same crisis team who has been accused of these smear tactics in at least 5 other lawsuits according to the NYT. Instead of focusing on that, they are regurgitating a story from old court documents in a case that has been settled.'
While Sony backed Lively in public, top executives were critical of her behavior in private according to unsealed court testimony with one, Andrea Giannetti, referring to the actress as ‘a f***ing terrorist’ in September 2024 when she threatened to flounce off the set.
Other emails included in court papers show Sony was already fed up with Lively even as Reynolds demanded they back his wife, with executives describing her decision to launch her Blake Brown haircare range during promotion for the movie as ‘epic level stupid.'
Messages sent by Reynolds were the opening shots in what ended up being a two-year legal war between his wife, Blake Lively, and Justin Baldoni
It Ends with Us earned $148 million in domestic box office and $350 million globally, but whatever goodwill the film garnered was overshadowed by the allegations made by its stars
‘These recently unsealed messages show Reynolds pressing Sony to not only publicly blame a newly hired crisis PR team for the backlash against Blake but also supplying the language he wanted the studio to use,' a source familiar with the legal dispute said.
‘He wanted a major studio to endorse his accusation of a coordinated campaign. The team had been on board for just six days.
‘How could it have orchestrated a backlash that pre-dated its involvement? Even a movie star cannot rewrite the timeline.
‘Demanding that a studio repeat an accusation does not make it true, no matter how famous you are.’
Meanwhile, the texts surfaced just days after it was revealed Lively had severed ties with publicist Leslie Sloane after more than 20 years.
Sloane, who leads Vision PR, became embroiled in the legal spat after she was named as a defendant in Baldoni's lawsuit.
In his suit, Baldoni claimed Sloane ran a 'smear campaign' against him and planted 'malicious stories' – allegations the publicist previously denied.
Now, sources have told Naughty But Nice that Reynolds was behind the firing of Lively's longtime publicist and the hiring of Sloane's replacement, Kelly Bush Novak.
After two decades working together, Lively recently cut ties with her publicist Leslie Sloane. Sources say Reynolds was behind the move
Other emails included in court papers show Sony was already fed up with Blake Lively - even as her husband, Ryan Reynolds, demanded they back his wife
The actress kicked off the legal campaign in December 2024 when she sued Baldoni – only for him to file a $400m countersuit the following January. The parties denied the allegations made against them. Baldoni’s case was dismissed before most of Lively's was.
In it, his team claimed Lively had tried to hijack the movie, forced him to watch the premiere of his own film in a cinema basement and threatened him using both Reynolds and her former pal Taylor Swift.
One particularly memorable message sent by the actress and included in court records saw her comparing herself to Game of Thrones queen Khaleesi while referring to Reynolds and Swift as ‘my dragons.'
Despite the closure of the case, the legal fallout continues with an ongoing lawsuit against Baldoni and his PR team filed by publicist Stephanie Jones still being litigated.
Jones claims Baldoni and Nathan conspired to create a similar smear campaign against her, including creating fake websites set up to target her, a claim they have denied.
Earlier this month, model Paige Jimenez also filed suit against Nathan and Wallace, saying she too had been the victim of a targeted campaign, also denied.
On Tuesday, the New York Times ran a piece, based heavily on previous reporting by the Hollywood Reporter, reiterating the claims and adding allegations from a further three women.
Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman was also named in the piece as a source of negative stories. Wallace, Nathan and Freedman have all denied the claims, describing them as false, inaccurate and defamatory.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Reynolds for comment.
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