Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni set to star in film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's 'It Ends With Us'

According to Variety, a US-based news outlet, Baldoni is slated to direct and executive produce the movie under his Wayfarer Studios label, which is co-financing, and it is now in development at Sony Pictures. Lively, with Hoover, Steve Sarowitz, and Andrew Calof, is also an executive producer. Along with Jamey Heath, who will produce on behalf of Wayfarer Studios, Alex Saks will create for Saks Picture Company. The current film's screenplay was written by Christy Hall ("I Am Not Okay With This"), who will also serve as producer.

As per a report by Variety, 'It Ends With Us' follows small-town girl Lily, who moves to Boston to start her own business. Sparks immediately fly between her and neurosurgeon Ryle, but his "complete aversion to relationships is disturbing," the book's description reads. "Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his 'no dating' rule, she can't help but wonder what made him that way in the first place. As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan -- her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened."

With more than 20 million volumes sold last year, Hoover is currently the best-selling novelist in the United States. He wrote five of the ten best-selling books in any genre. With nearly 90 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, "It Ends With Us" finished 2022 as the best-selling print book. As a consultant on the movie, Hoover has extensively collaborated with Baldoni and Wayfarer.

According to Variety, Lively, who is well-known for her roles in "Gossip Girl," "A Simple Favor," and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," made her directing debut with Taylor Swift's "I Bet You Think About Me" music video last year. With "Seconds," an adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novel that was written and produced by Edgar Wright and Marc Platt, she will make her feature film debut.

According to a news release, former "Jane the Virgin" actor Baldoni is one of the co-founders of Wayfarer Studios, whose goal is to "create purpose-driven, multi-platform film and television productions that elevate and speak to the human spirit." He recently oversaw the direction of the 2020 film "Clouds" and the 2019 film "Five Feet Apart."

Hall is preparing to make her directorial debut with "Daddio," starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn, which is now in post-production. Hall also co-created and executive-produced the Netflix series "I Am Not Okay With This." The screenplay for the Sony movie based on Liane Moriarty's "The Husband's Secret," starring Lively, is also written by her. (ANI)