Just when you thought you’d heard everything about the rancorous It Ends with Us dispute, Justin Baldoni‘s on-screen body double has broken cover to give fresh insight into the behind-the-scenes drama.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, stunt actor Thomas Canestraro – who joined the production for the final two weeks of filming in early 2024 as Baldoni’s body double – revealed the apparent tension on set, divulging that Blake Lively was ‘closed off’ during filming.
‘You could tell that the set was tense,’ said Canestraro, 38. ‘There was some discomfort from everybody.’
Canestraro – who appeared in action-packed scenes, such as one where he was on top of Lively who threw him to the ground – struggled to pinpoint the reason for the perceived tensions on the otherwise ‘professional’ set, chalking it up to delays in filming due to the 2023 writers strike.
But still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something had occurred between Lively, 37, and Baldoni, 41.
Canestraro struggled to pinpoint the reason for the perceived tensions on the otherwise ‘professional’ set, saying ‘there was some discomfort from everybody’ while filming
Stunt actor Thomas Canestraro joined the production for the final two weeks of filming in early 2024 as Baldoni’s body double
Lively was described as acting ‘closed off’ while filming It Ends With Us
Little did he know, months later, Lively would file an explosive lawsuit, sparking a vicious legal battle with her co-star.
In December 2024, the Gossip Girl actress lodged a complaint against Baldoni, accusing him of sexual harassment, creating a hostile environment on set and launching a smear campaign to destroy her reputation.
He retaliated with his own $400 million filing against the actress, along with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, 48, accusing them of trying to tarnish his reputation.
While all parties have denied the allegations, the bitter back-and-forth legal drama is set to culminate in a trial in March 2026.
All the while, Canestraro was unaware of the magnitude of the drama unfolding in the background on set, the only subtle tell being Lively’s demeanor and delays in filming.
Those who did have knowledge, he noted, ‘did a good job of doing damage control.’
Canestraro, who also worked on And Just Like That and The Expendables 3, was booked to work up to five days, but stayed on set for two weeks in Weehawken, New Jersey.
‘What I did experience was filming that was taking longer than expected,’ he said.
It prompted questions: ‘What’s happening here? Why are we taking so much time to film all of this scene? Why are we not on schedule?’
His experience with Lively was also markedly ‘different’ from the last time they worked together on a marketing campaign for her film A Simple Favor in 2018. At the time, the ‘provocative’ adverts called for Canestraro to pose in the buff with only a ‘sock’ covering his genitals as Lively stood over him.
During the shoot, he recalled, he had an ‘extremely easy time’ working with the actress, who made sure he was provided with a bathroom after the photoshoot wrapped.
When he was reunited with the actress on the set of It Ends With Us, then, he felt ‘comfortable’ working with Lively again – but noticed an unusual change in her behavior, saying she was ‘more closed off.’
He described Baldoni as ‘extremely friendly’
The stunt double interacted with Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds when the Deadpool actor visited his wife on the set of It Ends with Us, calling him a ‘supportive husband’
Canestraro’s experience with Lively on set was markedly ‘different’ to the time they had worked together on a marketing campaign for A Simple Favor back in 2018
And, when Lively’s husband Reynolds appeared on set, Canestraro didn’t think twice about it.
‘Originally, I came on set my first day, Ryan is on set, and I’m like, “Oh, my God. What a cool thing, it’s like when I was in A Simple Favor. What a supportive husband who just came on set to cheer his wife… I just love that about them, that’s a cool synergy in that couple,”‘ he said.
It all clicked for Canestraro when the lawsuits made headlines.
He added: ‘And now I’m like, “Oh, was Blake already in such a bad place that Ryan just came to make sure that she was okay?”‘
An insider previously told the Daily Mail that the Deadpool actor had ‘jumped in to help the film from disaster’ and ‘stick up for his wife.’
‘When the whole scandal came after, it was just like, now that explains why things were taking longer. Now that explains why you could sense a discomfort,’ Canestraro said.
Though Canestraro played his body double, the stuntman did not keep in touch with Baldoni, who he described as ‘extremely friendly,’ but said he can only imagine what the actor and director is going through.
‘He has a wife, he has family, he has friends, and he has people who, right now, some of them believe him, some of them have a question mark over his head, and that must not be a good place to be… It must affect him,’ Canestraro said.
But he isn’t taking a side, hoping that the sparring co-stars will eventually resolve their feud, which he feels overshadowed the film’s message about domestic abuse.
‘I don’t even want to be in any team,’ he said. ‘I hope they can find an agreement… We don’t need that in the industry. At the same time, you can’t discredit anybody’s feeling, and anybody’s experience.’
