Scarlett Johansson briefly reflected on working with Justin Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios amid his ongoing lawsuit with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, to whom she was married from 2008 to 2011.
Johansson’s upcoming Eleanor the Great, her directorial debut, was coproduced by Sony Pictures Classics and Wayfarer. (Baldoni, 41, launched his production company in 2019.)
“They were super supportive throughout the process,” Johansson, 40, succinctly told Vanity Fair in a profile published on Wednesday, May 14, with the outlet reporting that she never personally met Baldoni because he was filming It Ends With Us around the same time she worked on Eleanor the Great.
She added, “Yeah, such weird timing.”
Baldoni directed 2024’s It Ends With Us, also starring in the dramatic film alongside Lively, 37. After production wrapped, the former Gossip Girl actress sued Baldoni for sexual harassment, fostering a hostile work environment and trying to ruin her reputation.
Baldoni categorically denied all of Lively’s allegations, ultimately filing a $400 defamation suit against Lively and husband Reynolds, 48, earlier this year. Both Lively and Reynolds denounced the Jane the Virgin alum’s accusations and filed to dismiss the motion overall.
“The entirety of Mr. Baldoni’s case appears to be based on Mr. Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator,’ but here is the problem, that is not defamation unless they can show that Mr. Reynolds did not believe that statement to be true,” Reynolds’ attorneys Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said in a statement shared with Us Weekly in March. “The complaint doesn’t allege that, and just the opposite, the allegations in the complaint suggest that Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator.”
The statement continued, “Mr. Reynolds’ wife has accused Mr. Baldoni — privately and in multiple complaints — of sexual harassment and retaliation, and as pointed out by Mr. Reynolds’ motion, Mr. Baldoni has also openly spoken about his past of mistreating women and pushing the boundaries of consent. Mr. Reynolds has a First Amendment right to express his opinion of Mr. Baldoni, which should be comforting to a group of people who have repeatedly called Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds ‘bullies’ and other names over the past year.”
Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, told Us in a statement of his own that the Deadpool star was allegedly actively involved in the situation “far beyond just being a ‘supportive spouse.’”
“Mr. Reynolds was a key player in the scheme, defaming Justin around Hollywood, strong-arming WME into dropping Justin as a client, and trying to destroy Justin’s career however possible,” Freedman claimed. “His fingerprints have been all over this smear campaign against Justin and the Wayfarer team since day one.”
Johansson, meanwhile, has not further addressed Reynolds’ ongoing legal battle.
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