Blake Lively Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
Blake Lively promised that the movie adaptation of It Ends With Us will satisfy even the most diehard fans of author Colleen Hoover.
“Some people will always like a book better than a movie and some people like a movie better than the book. But I think that we just did our best to honor the book and honor the fans, and, I think, really make something that works even by itself,” Lively told Entertainment Tonight on Friday, June 14, at Book Bonanza, a book convention started by Hoover and her sisters, Lin and Murphy.
“It’s a lot of different things that you want to accomplish in this story,” Lively said. “I’m just so proud of this film. I’m just so proud to be here and sharing it with Colleen and the fans. It’s just really special. It was a great honor to take on Lily, and I’m so proud.”
Lively will star opposite Justin Baldoni in It Ends With Us, the film adaptation of Hoover’s 2016 romance novel of the same name. Lively stars as Lily whose life is turned upside down when her first love, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar), returns to throw a wrench in her life and new relationship.
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“If you don’t know the book, the movie works,” Lively told ET. “I don’t think there’s any way that if you read the book and you saw the movie that you wouldn’t be thrilled. We really worked hard on that. I also believe if you saw the movie and then read the book, you wouldn’t go, ‘Hold on, this isn’t like [the other].’ You can do either. I think they’re both really beautiful.”
Lively added that connecting with fans is “the most important part” of the film.
“Colleen, she has such a dedicated fan base. [She was] self-published initially, so this is somebody who the fans really authored the success of your stories,” Lively said. “She wrote stories that resonated with people and didn’t go to all the traditional means that people go to. She went directly to the people she was speaking to and they came forward in masses. This story resonated with so many people, so there’s a great responsibility that comes with that.”
She added, “You want to honor this book and this character that people love so much, but you also want to bring a life and a humanity to it that is true to who you are.”
Hoover announced in January 2023 that It Ends With Us would star Lively and Baldoni as Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid, respectively, with Baldoni directing the film as well. Speaking with ET alongside Lively on Saturday, Hoover shared her belief that “this adaptation has stayed so true to the book” that fans will love it either way.
“This is the book that means the most with me. I’ve tried to have other books adapted, and it didn’t quite go to fruition. I’ve been praying this would happen for four or five years now, so it just means so much to me,” Hoover said. “This book is the one that’s personal to me, so to get to see it on screen [is meaningful]. I watched it for the first time with my mother, who inspired the story, so words can’t express how amazing this whole experience is.”
It Ends With Us hits theaters on August 9.