Information from the set of It ends with Us
Information from the set of It Ends with Us
I am starting this post by saying I have no interest with convincing anyone or arguing with anyone on whether this information is true or legit or not.
I believe my source so I wanted to share.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I have a source who worked on the set of IEWU and this is what I was told by them:
“Justin is inexperienced and kind of an idiot” was the first thing they said - which to me were fighting words bc i went WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIS IS HE A sexual PREDATOR - and they go “oh no no, all of that is BS but the man does NOT know what he is doing or how to direct a set whatsoever, he had no idea what he was doing.” Basically my source said this set was one of the worst run sets they had ever been on bc they felt Justin had NO control over the cast or crew and there was no sense of authority or backbone about him. My source said he was frequently asking key crew members their thoughts about direction for certain scenes, which took them by surprise (bc technically the director shouldn’t be asking for other’s advice on their vision for the scene). They said he came across as very green and just overall not very experienced… which again surprised me. Maybe I shouldn’t be that surprised to hear this given how Blake bulldozed him and got her way hijacking everything but my source said they were not surprised bc it sounds like he was asking for advice/thoughts from both the crew and the cast while they were on set and like he didnt have a clear direction/vision for lots of scenes. They said he was an incredibly nice guy, but came across as a bit naive and not ready necessarily to be directing a feature film of that caliber. They said they were not surprised whatsoever that Blake ran circles around him.
As for the production itself: they were behind basically from Day 1 and on. the days would run way over schedule (and over budget in that all crew members were racking up OT) - which made everyone very annoyed/frustrated from the get go. My source is very close to the first set of ADs (1st + 2nd AD) team that were hired for this job —— and they went through THREE SETS which is unheard of, bc Blake allegedly fired two sets before the final set came in, more on that later — and it sounds like they tried their best to run a tight ship and keep everything on schedule but btwn Justin not being 100% ready with direction for each scene and Blake always running late/being behind (they said 90% of the time it was her fault they were running behind each day, and it was like poking the hornet’s nest when trying to get her out of her trailer if she wasn’t ready bc of hair/makeup/wardrobe issues or something wasnt to her liking). So lots of 16-18 hour days for the crew, everyone was very exhausted and frustrated the whole time while filming and it sounds like a lot of them blamed the ADs/Justin for not reigning in Blake (or the producers for not having a chat with Blakey, since she was the main problem re: going over budget bc of OT hours and running behind, needing to add extra days/time to the overall shoot schedule).
My source said Blake hands down is the worst person both they and their AD friends have ever worked with by far. Just a miserable person who takes her misery out on others. I don’t need to go into detail here most likely but essentially: everything you’ve heard or read is true and then some. Extremely insecure and will project/take out her emotions on everyone around her. VERY threatened by attractive females or anyone who makes eye contact with her the wrong way. VERY insecure about her body/wardrobe/how she looked the entire time (which made them run behind most days since she was in most scenes). Very very very negative energy. Apparently Justin was terrified of her as were all the heads of each department to the point that all the department heads would filter their comments/concerns/feedback/issues through Justin to communicate to Blake bc they were terrified of her (she did make people cry on this set too) - so he had to constantly waste time doing other people’s jobs/being the messenger bc they were too afraid to or were worried they’d be fired if they told her to adjust/change something. Which stressed Justin out too it sounds like (I genuinely believe that man was full of anxiety everyday and just overwhelmed - bc i’m trying to be fair, he was ALSO acting… directing/acting is NOT easy… and he was also doing a lot of other jobs/wearing hats bc it sounded like no one wanted to deal with Blake directly lol).
Blake got two sets of ADs (1st + 2nd) fired. There were three teams in total over the course of the shoot. Why? She blamed them for why production was behind and why the studio was losing money, since ADs are “in charge of running the schedule.” Which is true but… girl, it sounds like YOU were the problem. BUT no one would stand up to her and reign her in, which it sounded like was desperately needed. My source was particularly close to the 1st AD that began working on the shoot at the start - it’s a female - and Blake apparently was so nasty to her (apparently she’s a somewhat attractive female and very very professional/experienced) that she considered leaving. But wound up being fired instead…
I asked time and time again IS there any chance sexual harassment or ANYTHING creepy or untoward was done by Justin or ANYONE on the set and they kept saying no. Apparently when the NYT article dropped, my source and other people and friends they had kept in touch from the set were all texting each other like WTF bc they felt completely gaslit and were questioning their memories of certain scenes she described in her complaint and thinking “hey, that’s not what happened” or “that’s not how it went.” A lot of the ADs involved felt sick to their stomach and scared/worried they’d never be hired again given the allegations she made bc it also made THEM look incredibly unprofessional/horrible if that behavior was in fact occurring and they did nothing. There was a LOT of group chatter amongst the crew that went around via text, but the overall consensus was confusion/shock/and struggling to try to recount any possible moment where Justin could have said or did anything to ANYONE on set that made them feel uncomfortable: but the general consensus was absolutely not, Blake is a fucking crazy bitch, why is she doing this?? and just general panic/confusion and fear for their own careers/livelihoods and getting hired again.
I also asked about/pushed for: was there an affair? My source said not that they knew of, unless something went down in their trailers or Blake’s penthouse when no one else was around. They said their honest impression of Justin was that he was a nice guy, and overcompensated in huge ways to make Blake happy and was always complimenting her, smiling, etc to be NICE to her because it was better for ALL of their sakes if she was in a good mood and Justin picked up on that early on. My source personally thinks (as do the ADs) that Justin was terrified of her or making a mistake/making her angry. And they personally did not get the sense from Justin that he was very attracted to her, only that he wanted her to like him and behave.
EDIT: A little more information I forgot to add
- Another thing my source said when I was asking about the rest of the cast/their dynamic.. they felt like any other actor who was a part of the main cast (like Jenny, Hassan? i forget his name...etc) might have lost a bit of respect for Justin for just not having an air of authority around him and treating them more like friends than a director/professional and having control over them.
EDIT #2
OH - one other thing: my source did mention Ryan's presence on set which everyone was weirded out about - in video village (that's the area where all the director/producers/writers (if present)/ADs (sometimes) are hanging out watching the monitors of what is going on etc... also important "guests of honor" will sit there... essentially everyone who is "important" is given their little folding chair... sometimes cast members will be there too in btwn scenes if they dont want to go back to their trailers and such.