Sorry, New Adult Fiction fans …
You’re going to have to wait until June 21st for the film adaptation of It Ends With Us, the top-selling book of 2022. It’s what bestselling author Colleen Hoover has referred to “hardest book I’ve ever written.”
The book was written in 2016 but wasn’t actually optioned by Wayfarer Studios until 2019. Filming began in Hoboken, New Jersey in May of last year but was quickly shut down the following month due to Writers Guild Association strikes on the set.
Perhaps it was the film’s comely star, Blake Lively that created such a scene.
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The release date was pushed back to February 9 only to have it delayed again to its new date, June 21.
Wayfarer Studios was co-founded by Lively’s co-star and the film’s director, Justin Baldoni. Baldoni (Jane The Virgin) and Steve Sarowitz, started Wayfarer Studios in 2019. According to their website, “Wayfarer strives to debunk the typical studio model by championing inspirational stories which unite as true agents for social change.”
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It Ends With Us is indeed an inspirational story.
Lily Bloom (played by Lively) is a resilient young woman, who experienced extreme bouts of domestic violence growing up. The story begins as she takes the inheritance left by her abusive father and opens a flower shop in Boston. Along the way, she meets Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni), a handsome neurosurgeon with a dark past. Their relationship begins as slow burn but quickly lights up as Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan (played by Brandon Sklenar, 1923) comes back on the scene. (It’s important to note that Sklenar looks very similar to Ryan Reynolds.)
It’s also important to note that fans of Colleen Hoover (known as “CoHorts”) are rather miffed by the casting decisions — mostly because of the age discrepancies. However, her explanation she made to People last month makes total sense.
“Back when I wrote It Ends With Us, the new adult (genre) was very popular. You were writing college-age characters. That’s what I was contracted to do. I made Lily very young. I didn’t now that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years. There’s not a 20-something neurosurgeon,”
Hoover called Lively her “Dream Lily” in an Instagram post back in January 2023. However, Lively did have to go through quite a transformation, dyeing her signature blond mane red and ditching her generally glam look for something more … flower shop chic.
We don’t have a ticket link up yet but you should definitely check back in mid-June.
Until then, you can listen to It Ends With Us on Audible, and find out what all the rave is about. Also, make sure to check out the sequel, It Starts With Us, that Hoover said she never planned to write. But when the “CoHorts” demanded it, Hoover delivered! With the release date delayed, you have plenty of time to catch up, before coming back to buy your tickets.
