Blake Lively has been front and centre this past year, following the controversial release of Colleen Hoover adaptation, It Ends With Us. And amid reports of a rift between Lively and director Justin Baldoni, Lively in particular suffered an online backlash.
The 37-year-old actress has since taken legal action against her It Ends With Us director and co-star, suing Baldoni for sexual harassment, as well as accusing him of coordinating a smear campaign to damage her reputation. Baldoni has denied the allegations, and is reported to also be taking legal action.
This week, online speculation around Lively reached its peak, as rumours of a different on-set feud surfaced, with these focusing on A Simple Favor co-stars Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick.
With questions around the extended release date of A Simple Favor 2, rumours spread online that a cast rift was behind it, with some reports claiming that a fallout between Kendrick and Lively had prompted the sequel to be "shelved".
"Blake Lively’s refusal to promote - amid her messy legal battle with Justin Baldoni - and growing tensions with Anna Kendrick," one user posted to X, about the rumoured cancellation of the project. "Anna is furious. Paul Feig is disappointed. Hollywood is in shock."
However, A Simple Favor director Paul Feig weighed in on the rumours this week, shutting down reports of a feud and calling it "total BS".
"This is total BS. Sorry," Feig commented. "The movie is finished and coming out soon. Don’t believe anything you read on social media these days."
Going on to talk about the release date, Feig continued: "It’s called post production, which generally takes over half a year at least when you factor in editing, scoring, special effects, sound mixing, close captioning and all the technical quality control that has to be done... Our post schedule always had us finishing everything by mid-January."
He continued: "Movies don’t come out the second they’re finished because the studio spends the previous year deciding the best date to release it. We’ve always planned on something spring/summer of this year. That’s how movies work. I hope this helps.”
"The movie is awesome, and Blake and Anna turn in amazing performances," Feig concluded. "I can’t wait for you all to see it. Stay tuned for more details. Simple Favor 2 is coming soon!"
Well, that's that.
We will continue to update this story.
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