Reply to Blake Lively- Jason Baldoni and NYT

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Baldoni is the ideal client because he literally saved every text, voice mail and scrap of film.  Talk about receipts.

On the other hand, I think Blake’s lawyers have opened themselves up to Rule 11 sanctions for the birthing scene allegations.  The footnote dropped about what generally is worn in semi nude scenes is proof they knew that wasn’t what she was wearing— a hospital gown, pregnancy suit and underwear.[/quote]

I actually don't think he Baldoni saved everything. I think he's benefitting from having been a producer and being part of Wayfarer, so there are dozens of people from whom he can get stuff because they work for him or with him.

Also, I don't think there is any Rule 11 exposure in Lively's lawsuit, sorry.[/quote]

Clearly they knew she was fully clothed (underwear, pregnancy suit and robe).  Had they not dropped the footnote, probably not.  But that makes it clear they are part of an active misrepresentation to the Court.  [/quote]

I do not consider underwear, a fake belly, and a hospital gown to be "fully clothed." Especially not if the scene required my legs to be up in stirrups in a way that would obviously keep the gown from covering most of my body.[/quote]

Most people do wear ski bibs in childbirth and birthing scenes.

Wait…. Did that birth scene get slipped in like so much pornography into the script when her back was turned?[/quote]

Most birth scenes actually don't show much of the woman's body. It's very common for a birthing scene to mostly just show the woman from the waist up, you might see her knees at some point. But especially because the position the actress is in during filming, it's pretty common for actresses to be truly fully clothed during a birth scene. Not just wearing underwear but wearing pants. If you look at the scene in the movie, they have chosen to go for a much more exposed treatment -- Lively is seen from the side and it looks like she's not wearing anything at all on the bottom (if she was in fact wearing briefs, they were removed in post -- I actually would be interested to know exactly what they mean by "briefs" because I would actually assume they would use something with less fabric on the sides to make it easier to remove). There are also shots from behind the doctor with Lively's legs spread on either side.

It's treated tastefully in the movie (it's not pornographic) but also recall that Reynolds wound up doing the Final Cut of the movie and an editor would have a lot of control over how those shots were used.

I also think it's relevant that they had a conversation about her being completely nude (with no hospital gown and presumably no "briefs" whatever that means) in the scene, and that the conversation about that happened on the morning the scene was shot. Even if she ultimately was partially clothed and more covered up in the scene, I could see how being surprised by that request on the day of shooting that scene would be unsettling and make an actress feel particularly vulnerable about how her body is being filmed in a scene where she's in such a compromised position. And I could also see why Lively would feel that the discussion of full or even simulated nudity, the way the scene was filmed, and the way her body was portrayed in the scene, would suggest it would be helpful to have the intimacy coordinator on set for that sequence. It is not a typical birth scene where the focus is mostly on the characters faces and the shots are done from the neck/chest up with everyone clothed and what is actually happening with the birth mostly just implied. They really sought to make it look realistically like Lively was naked. There are a lot of shots of her belly, of Baldoni's face framed by her belly and legs, of Baldoni touching her belly and legs (I know it's a fake belly, he's not putting his hands on her actual stomach, I'm just saying that the framing of the shots is actually pretty focused on her midsection in a way that is atypical for birth scenes.[/quote]

I think she wound up wearing exactly what one would expect to wear in a birthing scene.  Briefs, a hospital gown and pregnancy suit.  Hard to imagine any other clothing that would have been appropriate.[/quote]

And this is based on extensive experience filming childbirth scenes, yes?

There was a detailed story about the filming of a birth scene for the We Live in Time with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield in the NYT last year (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/13/movies/andrew-garfield-florence-pugh-we-live-in-time.html). A few details jump out at me:

"Before filming the actors rehearsed with a midwife consultant, Penny Taylor, who used a doll as she walked them through the blocking."

"An intimacy coordinator was also on set given that Pugh was naked except for a bra and a heavy prosthetic belly, which gave her knee and back pain almost 'instantly.'"

"In between takes, Pugh said, they would rarely leave the set. 'We would apply each other’s ‘scene sweat’ so no one from the makeup department had to enter our safe space,' she wrote."

And here's a discussion of nudity in birth scenes, and how it has been fairly taboo for a long time even while nudity of women in sexual situations became more common (https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-first-omens-full-frontal-060000975.html):

"Full-frontal female nudity still feels more familiar, and therefore acceptable, when it can be sexualised, as Stevenson suggests. Meanwhile, the mystic of childbirth as a pure, almost out-of-body experience too often leaves the goriest bits out – let alone detailing them in a closeup – putting more pressure on women to 'perform' to fit that narrative of effortlessness."

I'll note the childbirth scene in IEWU is not gory -- it's softly lit, tender, and meant to be emotional (I didn't find it emotional because I don't think the movie is very good, but that's clearly what they are going for). But I think it's interesting to think about how nudity in such scenes is not common and Hollywood has usually taken a more hands off approach.

It seems like the way Baldoni and Heath chose to approach this scene left something to be desired, especially as it concerned the body of the woman at the center of the scene. One unusual thing about a birth scene is that the actress portraying childbirth is in a particularly vulnerable physical position -- both portraying something primal and deeply personal and also potentially in a state of undress -- while everyone else in the scene is clothed and portraying something far less physical. This makes it a very intimate scene for one person but perhaps not that intimate for everyone else. Which might be why there was such a disconnect between Baldoni/Heath and Lively on how the scene was handled, and why Lively felt violated or compromised by their approach to her wardrobe, the casting of the doctor who would spend the scene between her legs, and who else was on set or had access to monitors of the shoot.

I do think you can make a compelling argument that springing the proposed nudity on her last minute, failing to have an intimacy coordinator on set, and being someone dismissive of what the scene required of Lively as an actress, was enough to prompt a valid complaint from Lively on the handling of the scene. I also think that given how much Baldoni talked about the "empowering" message of the film in its promotion, and the importance of not subjecting the move to "the male gaze," that he perhaps didn't really walk the walk when it came to actually filming the movie.[/quote]

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