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Actor and director Justin Baldoni has sued The New York Times newspaper for libel after it published allegations that he had sexually harassed and tried to smear the reputation of his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively.

The lawsuit, which seeks at least $250m (£199m) in damages, was the latest in a legal battle that has engulfed the two stars. Lively has filed a separate federal lawsuit against Baldoni and others alleging harassment.

The Baldoni lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday by the director, 40, and by other defendants named in the Lively lawsuit.

It accuses The New York Times of accepting a “self-serving narrative” by the actress, 37, who claimed Baldoni, production company Wayfarer Studios and others attempted to damage her reputation after she and her husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, addressed “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour” by the actor and a producer on the set of the film.

According to Lively’s complaint, the plan included a proposal to plant theories on online message boards, engineer a social media campaign and place news stories that are critical of her.

But Baldoni’s libel lawsuit claims The Times article, which was called ‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine, “disregard[s] an abundance of evidence” that contradicts Lively’s accusations.

Photo by: NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx 2024 8/6/24 Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds at the premiere of "It Ends With Us" on August 6, 2024 in New York City.
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Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds at the premiere of It Ends With Us. Pic: AP

The Times has defended its reporting and said it plans to “vigorously defend” against the lawsuit.

In a statement, it said: “The role of an independent news organisation is to follow the facts where they lead.

“Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article.”

Baldoni was dropped by his agency, WME, immediately after Lively filed her complaint and The Times published its story. The agency represents both Lively and Reynolds.

Bryan Freedman, a lawyer who represents Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and its representatives, previously called the accusations “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media”.

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Why is Blake Lively suing Justin Baldoni?

He said on Wednesday that The Times had “aided and abetted their own devastating PR smear campaign designed to revitalise Lively’s self-induced floundering public image and counter the organic groundswell of criticism amongst the online public”.

Lively is not a defendant in the libel lawsuit against the paper.

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In a statement, lawyers representing the actress said: “Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms Lively’s California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today.”

It Ends With Us, which is an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel, was shrouded by speculation over discord between the lead pair at the time of its release in August.

Baldoni took a backseat in promoting the film while Lively took centre stage along with Reynolds, who was on the press circuit for Deadpool & Wolverine at the same time.

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Filmmaker Jeff Baena, husband of actress Aubrey Plaza, dies aged 47

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Filmmaker Jeff Baena, husband of actress Aubrey Plaza, dies aged 47

Filmmaker Jeff Baena, the husband of actress Aubrey Plaza, has been found dead aged 47.

The US director and writer was known for films including Life After Beth and The Little Hours, in which Plaza starred.

He died on Friday, according to Los Angeles medical examiner records, viewed by E! News.

According to Deadline, the filmmaker’s family “is devastated and asks for privacy at this difficult time”.

The circumstances of his death are not yet clear.

Plaza, 40, who is known for TV series including Parks And Recreation and The White Lotus, and films such as Emily The Criminal, had been in a relationship with Baena since about 2011, and the pair married in 2021.

The pair frequently collaborated on his films. While working on his last movie, Spin Me Around, released in 2022, Plaza confirmed they had wed.

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“So proud of my darling husband,” she wrote on Instagram in May 2021, “for dreaming up another film that takes us to italia to cause some more trouble”.

Baena was a graduate of New York University’s film school and became a production assistant for filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, known for films including Back To The Future and Forrest Gump, after moving to Los Angeles.

He also worked as an assistant editor for writer-director David O Russell (The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook), with whom he co-wrote the 2004 indie comedy I Heart Huckabees, starring Jason Schwartzman, Naomi Watts, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin.

In 2014, Baena made his directorial debut with Life After Beth, a horror comedy, followed by Joshy, in which Plaza also appeared, in 2016. Both films were nominated for the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize.

His other credits included Horse Girl and the TV series Cinema Toast.

Plaza’s representatives have been contacted for comment.

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Creatives having to be even more creative as National Theatre overhauls how it stages productions

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Creatives having to be even more creative as National Theatre overhauls how it stages productions

The National Theatre is overhauling how it stages productions – as its ambitious climate targets mean creatives are having to be even more creative.

After setting itself the goal of achieving net zero as an organisation by 2030, off-stage quietly radical changes are under way.

Pic: Reed Watts
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Pic: Reed Watts

Sky News was invited to see how the theatre, based in Southbank, central London, has gone about overhauling its approach to staging productions, meeting with some of those who’ve worked on its adaptation of the much-loved children’s classic Ballet Shoes.

While critics have been full of praise for the visual spectacle on-stage, how the whole look was created required a fundamental shift in approach.

“All of the team have had to be on board with reinventing, recutting and reimagining items rather than just making them from scratch,” costume designer Samuel Wyer said.

A new resource they had to work with was the National Theatre Green Store in Bermondsey, southeast London.

The warehouse has more than 131,000 items of costume and almost 22,000 props now housed under one roof so that designers can repurpose items from previous productions to try to cut their carbon footprint.

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It’s a surprisingly satisfying challenge.

Mr Wyer said they were able to “dip and cut clothes… which meant I was finding things even outside my imagination that were more perfect than I could have drawn on a piece of paper”.

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Trying to lead by example, the theatre hopes to demonstrate how the industry needn’t take a fast fashion approach to making sets, props and costumes from scratch.

“I think if it’s demonstrated that we can do things in this way that helps all of us imagine a world where we can use what we’ve got rather than new, new, new, because we need that balance,” Mr Wyer said.

“Theatre is where we come to imagine who we could be.”

Pic: Reed Watts
Image:
Pic: Reed Watts

‘Every piece has its own little quirks’

Last year, the National set itself targets of 50% of the materials used in its productions having had a previous life, and 65% being repurposed at the end of each production.

For set designer Frankie Bradshaw, hitting those targets has meant working with a lot more repurposed furniture.

“Lots of second-hand cabinets, bookshelves,” she said. “Ordinarily [carpenters] would have been used to building from scratch following a drawing and this has been quite different.

“Every piece has its own little quirks, and they’ve had to adapt their processes to fit that way of working.”

While it’s by no means straightforward, the process is proving rewarding.

“It requires everyone to be a little bit more flexible, a little more patient, but it does mean you can end up with a product you’re a lot more proud of,” Ms Bradshaw added.

Ballet Shoes runs at the National Theatre until Saturday 22 February.

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Neil Young confirmed as Glastonbury headliner – days after saying he was pulling out

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Neil Young confirmed as Glastonbury headliner - days after saying he was pulling out

Neil Young has been confirmed as a headliner at this year’s Glastonbury – despite saying he was dropping out due to the BBC’s involvement in the festival.

The 79-year-old Canadian musician wrote on his website earlier this week that both he and his band, The Chrome Hearts, were pulling out because the BBC’s involvement was a “corporate turn-off”.

He has now said in a statement that this decision was down to “an error in the information I received”.

Emily Eavis, the organiser of the Glastonbury Festival, posted on Instagram on Friday: “Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury.

“He does things his own way and that’s why we love him.

“We can’t wait to welcome him back here to headline the Pyramid in June.”

Glastonbury, which takes place at Worthy Farm in Somerset in the summer, has worked closely with the BBC – its exclusive broadcast partner – since 1997.

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Posting on Neil Young Archives, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer wrote in his initial statement: “The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs.

“We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in.

“It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.”

Young performing at Glastonbury in 2009. Pic: AP
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Young performing at Glastonbury in 2009. Pic: AP

Young, who headlined the festival’s Pyramid stage in 2009, added: “We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be.

“Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.”

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In an updated statement, he wrote: “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury festival, which I always have loved.

“Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing! Hope to see you there!”

Young, who is married to US actress Daryl Hannah, was booked to play Glastonbury in 1997 but pulled out after cutting his left index finger while making a ham sandwich.

Glastonbury, one of the UK’s largest music festivals, is set to take place between 25 and 29 June, with Sir Rod Stewart booked for the Sunday teatime legend slot.

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