‘It Ends with Us’ Movie: Blake Lively, Colleen Hoover and the Cast Give a Peek Behind-the-Scenes

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 26 books, including runaway hits like It Ends With Us, Ugly Love and Verity. And with a massive fandom behind her, #ColleenHoover yields more than a billion views — and counting — on TikTok. 

Most recently, her heart-wrenching book It Ends With Us was made into a potential summer blockbuster. Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni (of Jane the Virgin) star in the Sony Pictures film, alongside Brandon Sklenar and more. And one thing is for certain: it's one of this summer's most highly-anticipated movie releases, hitting theaters on August 9. 

Earlier this week, FIRST got the chance to attend a special screening of It Ends With Us where the cast and Hoover shared their thoughts on the film, how Taylor Swift played a part in it all, and what they hope viewers take away from the story. Keep reading for all those details and more!

Q: How does it feel to have people finally watching the movie? 

Alex Neustaedter (Young Atlas Corrigan): It feels amazing. 

Isabela Ferrer (Young Lily Bloom): It feels wild. This is my first film ever, so it’s very surreal to be doing all of this, but I'm surrounded by the best people ever, so I couldn't be more grateful honestly, and it's super exciting to be here with everybody in this room. 

Q:What's one characteristic about your character that you admire and a characteristic you wish you possessed? 

Colleen Hoover (Author): I did have a huge role in this film, party girl. But, honestly, just having a cameo in this movie made me respect the job of acting so much more. Just for the two seconds I was on screen, I was there [shooting] for 10 hours. We were talking and drinking and dancing to no music, so I don't know how y'all do it. Honestly, it's literally the hardest day of work I've ever done in my life. And I used to be a social worker, so that says a lot.

Brandon Sklenar (Atlas Corrigan): Probably Atlas’ ability to bake. I’m a pretty terrible baker, so I’d like to possess that quality. 

Jenny Slate (Allysa Kincaid): I don't have a problem sharing my more sensitive feelings, but I think I sometimes have a problem being upfront, so I would like to be a little bit more like Alyssa in that sense. I really admire her bright strength.

Blake Lively (Lily Bloom): I love that Lily sees the best in people. I love that she sees the people who may have been cast aside, or a flower shop on the corner that nobody sees the potential in or a boy across the street that everyone makes fun of. She sees you and she sees your value and she uplifts you to your highest self, and I think that's a beautiful characteristic. 

Hasan Minhaj (Marshall): Marshall and Alyssa have a great apartment. It'd be pretty dope if you just transfer that asset to me in real life.

Isabela Ferrer (Young Lily Bloom): I feel like I am very jealous of the quality that she has to garden. I grew up in the city, so I never had an opportunity to garden and I remember the first day on set being able to actually be in front of the garden and pull up vegetables, and that scene in itself was just so beautiful and wonderful.

Alex Neustaedter (Young Atlas Corrigan): Well, like Brandon, I'm not a great baker, but I love how he [Atlas] stands up for what he believes in and has a super strong moral compass. I always try to remind myself to keep that and keep standing up for what I believe in.

Q: Going over to Isabela and Alex, how did you approach the younger versions of Atlas and Lily? 

Isabela Ferrer: So, to play young Lily there was so much there with the first-person diary entries from the book. Thatwas gold [in] itself. And then when it came to trying to act like Blake, we are both very similar without meaning to be, so I didn't really practice or anything. So, thank you for the casting. Thank you very much for that. 

Alex Neustaedter: I didn't meet Brandon until maybe a month or so ago. So, I watched a bit of what they were working on beforehand, and I was seeing what he was doing and just how real of a performance and how amazing he was. And so I was just trying to emulate that and do what felt real to me as well. 

Q: Now, gentleman, It Ends with Us is super popular among women, but how would you encourage men to go out and see the movie? And why is it important for them to see the movie as well? 

Brandon Sklenar: I think it's important because, if men are watching this film, and you see yourself in Atlas, that's a really cool thing. I hope you identify with those qualities, and embrace them and carry those forward into the world. And if you can relate to Ryle Kincaid in any way, shape, or form, I would hope that you'd have the gumption to own it and take responsibility for it and take action to change your ways.

I think that's the beauty of this film, because there's something in it for everybody. There's the mother-daughter relationship, there's Atlas, there's Lily, there's Ryle [and] his relationship to his sister. I mean, it really goes so much more beyond just the domestic situation of everything. And I really think it is a powerful message just for change. 

Hasan Minhaj: I became familiar with Colleen’s work through my wife and my wife's best friend, because they were huge fans of the book, so it's kind of surreal to be part of a film whose book has been on your nightstand.  This is kind of a surreal experience, but I was talking to my wife about this andwhat she loved most about the book, and I think it's really the compassion that you have for Lily and [that] you celebrate her agency through all of it, and her triumph. And what Colleen did in the book, which is really powerful and amazing, is show the totality of Lily's life; that even the most horrible of things don't have to define you. You have agency and can get through it. 

Q: A big thing that has been talked about on this press tour is Blake being called a crown straighter — what exactly does that mean? 

Blake Lively: That was something that came after we shared this movie for the first time with Colleen’s biggest fans in Dallas. I was sitting with Colleen and her best friend Taryn and she was, like, “Someone on social media is calling you a crown straightener,” and I said, “What's that?” and she said, “A woman who goes around straightening other people's crowns.” 

And it was just the best compliment that I’ve ever been given. I do feel that that is someone I want to be, and am, but I am also surrounded by those people who are always building me up. So it’s easy to do that for others when I have people doing it for me. 

Q: Jamie, your character, Alyssa, from the beginning always supported Lily. It was so memorable reading that line when she says, “If I'm speaking to you as my sister, then I would say forgive him, but as your best friend, I would never speak to you again.’ It was just so powerful reading it, but also seeing you relay those lines on screen. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Jenny Slate: I really wanted to make sure that Alyssa could be emotional. I remember a very specific example telling my parents many years ago now that I was getting divorced and feeling that was gonna make them sad. But their reaction to me was strength and curiosity and how can they help, but also sharing with me that they were so sad that this was happening to me. I thought about that a lot in that scene, although the contexts are totally different, of course.

How do you support someone? How do you show them that you are honestly affected by them, that you love them so much that you cry if they feel pain, and that this is a show of strength and connection rather than an example of destruction? I just really wanted to be able to play all of those notes. 

Q: How would you hope to inspire someone who maybe is aware that this film is based on a book but hasn't read it? 

Colleen Hoover: This movie stands on its own. I think the performance that these guys gave is just phenomenal. You can absolutely go into it not knowing anything about the book and walk away with that same feeling and that same hope and inspiration, and that's a testament to all of their hard work and the passion that they've put into it. 

Blake Lively: But I can't imagine anyone seeing this movie if they haven't read the book. I know I need to spend more time with these people because of the characters Colleen created and the journeys she created. You get to spend two hours with these characters in a movie, but you want to spend more time with them. I know I did, and I've lived with them all for a year and a half now, and I still want them more. 

Q: Blake, was it exciting that your best friend, Taylor Swift, had a song of hers in the movie? Did you have to make some phone calls? How did that happen? 

Blake Lively: Honestly, she was with me on this experience the whole time. All throughout it, so she really lived this with me. She's a person who shows up for you and I'm so grateful to have that love and that support.

But there were a lot of calls made for a lot of songs in this movie. I think that when you see it, it feels like a big, beautiful summer movie, but we didn’t have any budget. So there were a lot of favors and a lot of begging. 

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