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A Simple Favor Director Supports Blake Lively Amid Backlash for Upcoming Movie

Blake Lively rose to fame thanks to her role in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in 2005, but she scored the role of a lifetime with her portrayal of Serena van der Woodsen in the CW teen drama Gossip Girl. Throughout the 2010s, Lively had a series of projects in between balancing her family life, and among them was also 2018’s A Simple Favor.

Way before her ongoing controversy and legal battle with It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, it was rumored Lively didn’t get along well with her A Simple Favor co-star, Anna Kendrick. However, as the two denied the allegations, they reunited in 2024 in Italy to film the sequel, Another Simple Favor, which is set to premiere soon. However, the release announcement was met with criticism on Prime Video’s Instagram post, and even the film’s director, Paul Feig, had to show his support for the actress.

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On Feb. 4, it was announced that the A Simple Favor sequel Another Simple Favor would open the SXSW Festival in March. At the same time, Prime Video announced the film is not heading to theaters, as it might have been originally planned, but heading straight to Prime Video on May 1. The comment section, as expected, was not kind to Lively.

She is the best and an amazing collaborator and I’m her biggest fan.

Amid the ongoing jokes, one fan wrote, “Is it Paul Feig’s cut or Blake’s cut?,” a reference to Lively allegedly taking over It Ends With Us from director and producer Justin Baldoni, with Sony releasing Lively’s version despite Baldoni’s cut ranking higher. To this, the director, Paul Feig, entered the chat to clarify that it was his cut.

It’s my cut. There is no other cut,” he wrote in the comment section. “Blake has been nothing but supportive and a dream to work with. She is the best and an amazing collaborator and I’m her biggest fan. Just wanted to clear that up.”

another-simple-favor-paul-feig-cut

Image via Prime Video

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This isn’t the first time Feig has jumped to support Lively. While other directors she has worked with have stayed silent in the controversy, Feig, with whom Lively has an upcoming film, wanted to be there for her. Following the release of her complaint on Dec. 21, a couple of days later, Feig reshared The New York Times feature, adding his own experience.

I’ve now made two movies with Blake and all I can say is she’s one of the most professional, creative, collaborative, talented and kind people I’ve ever worked with,” Feig gushed. “She truly did not deserve any of this smear campaign against her. I think it’s awful she was put through this.”

The Decision to Head to Streaming Might Have Been Best

While it’s impossible to determine how the film would’ve done had it been released in theaters, the first reaction to the Another Simple Favor premiere news was not positive, to say the least. The film comes in the midst of the heavy allegations against Lively and Reynolds that they took over Baldoni’s film, on top of allegedly falsely accusing him of sexual harassment. While some supported Lively, Prime Video’s comment section is filled with support for Baldoni.

Some of the comments highlight it’s “Weird timing to promote this movie,” with several asking “Did Ryan rewrite a scene?” or “Did Blake direct this movie too?” Some also noticed that, on the official poster, Lively’s name is slightly higher than Academy Award-nominated actress Anna Kendrick. “Did Blake refuse to work unless her name was slightly higher than Anna’s?”

The first installment was a commercial and critical success, grossing $97.6 million worldwide against a $20 million budget (via The Numbers). There are no official details on the budget for the upcoming sequel, but Lionsgate and Amazon MGM Studios didn’t want to risk it, sending it to streaming instead.

While they say there’s no bad publicity, Blake Lively’s controversy might have led many people to the theaters to judge Lively’s acting talents themselves. However, the decision to send the film on streaming makes more sense in the current environment and, who knows, it might’ve been the decision all along. Amazon MGM Studios has sent other films with big success at the SXSW Festival on streaming directly, like 2024’s Road House, much to the detriment of director Doug Liman.

Another Simple Favor will open the SXSW Festival on Mar. 7 and head to streaming on May 1 on Prime Video.

Source: Instagram

Another Simple Favor

Release Date

March 7, 2025

Director

Paul Feig

Writers

Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Bashir Salahuddin, Joshua Satine, Ian Ho, Kelly McCormack

Prequel(s)

A Simple Favor





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