Is Ryan Reynolds making fun of Justin Baldoni in Deadpool 3?

Is Nicepool, who calls herself a feminist while making inappropriate remarks about Ladypool's body, inspired by the director of Never Again? His lawyer believes it.

Recently, Blake Lively filed a complaint against the director of Never again, Justin Baldoniaccusing him of sexual and moral harassment on the set of the film released last August in theaters. She accuses him in particular of having made inappropriate remarks to her about her body and her weight, only four months after she had her fourth child with Ryan Reynolds. The director would have gone so far as to secretly ask her coach to intensify her physical training and her diet, so that she would be thinner just two weeks before filming. All behind his back, “and very critically”she would have discovered once the shooting began.

Baldoni, who is also her acting partner in this film, is also said to have burst into her filming trailer several times without warning, including once where she was naked, making her feel uncomfortable and “in a vulnerable position”. To try to complete the production of the film, this shooting had to be supervised. After a crisis meeting organized with members of production, a list of 30 protective measures was established to complete Never again. “This hostile work atmosphere almost derailed the entire production”writes the actress in her complaint. She also specifies that once their collaboration ended, Baldoni would have continued to criticize her on the sidelines of the promotion of the film, in order according to her to try to ruin her reputation.

The person concerned refutes these accusations, and he subsequently attacked the New York Times in court, the newspaper having been the first to relay the details of Lively's complaint. His agency no longer wants to work with him, nor one of his partners on his feminist podcast The Man EnoughLiz Plank. Since represented by Bryan Freedman, the lawyer announced that he wanted to file a complaint directly against Blake Lively, and among the elements against the actress, he could count on surprising elements: extracts from Deadpool & Wolverinethe Marvel blockbuster in which she appears as Ladypool opposite her husband. Ryan Reynolds plays several roles, including that of Nicepool, a not-so-nice alternative version of the superhero, who would in fact be largely inspired by Justin Baldoni's personality.

To understand everything, you have to go back a few months, to the theatrical release of Never again. Its success was immediate in American theaters, but from the start, it caused a lot of ink to be spilled. Promoted as a “rom-com” Based on a Colleen Hoover novel that became a TikTok phenomenon, it's actually a difficult story addressing domestic violencewith the actor-director in one of the two main roles, opposite Blake, therefore, who initiated the project as producer.

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It wasn't so much the content of the film that got people talking last August. It was above all the tensions between the female star and her acting partner/director that intrigued the American public. At a time when he was rushing into cinemas in numbers to discover It Ends With Us, the question of a sequel was logically asked… and both parties immediately responded in the negative.

“I think there are better people than me to do the sequel. I think Blake Lively would be ready to direct it…”said Baldoni in particular, with irony, at a time when the rumor of their disagreement was growing. Before the toxic atmosphere on this shoot was denounced, there was first talk of disagreements about the editing of the film, concluded by the “victory” of Blake, who would have ended up having scenes rewritten, including one by her husband Ryan Reynolds, and by having the editing validated which was close to her heart, and not that of the director.

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The success ofIt Ends With Us coincided with that of Deadpool & Wolverine. A new sequel full of meta jokes for Marvel's sharp-tongued superhero. Does this super-film hide some jokes aimed directly at Baldoni? That's what some fans assume, who have shared some nasty jokes from Shawn Levy's film, wondering if Nicepool wasn't designed to publicly expose the director who had so irritated the actor's wife at the time of its creation.

Faced with the real Deadpool and Wolverine, whom he has only just met, Nicepool speaks of Ladypool's body like this: “Oh my God, wait until you see Ladypool. She's beautiful. She just had a baby too, and you wouldn't even know it.” To which the hero of the saga responds: “I don’t think you’re supposed to say stuff like that.” Nicepool then concludes: “It's okay. I identify as a feminist.”

Can we see this as a broader joke about false defenders of the feminist cause? On Hollywood personalities such as Joss Whedon ? For Justin Baldoni's lawyer, this would indeed be a direct attack on his client, whom he also recognizes physically, Nicepool's long hair tied in a bun being a cut often worn by the director ofIt Ends With Us.

“My take on it is that if your wife is the victim of sexual harassment, you don't make fun of Justin Baldoni, considers Bryan Freedman, questioned on this subject by Sirius XM. There's no doubt this is about Justin…I mean, everyone who saw that bun recognized it. If someone is a serious victim of sexual harassment, it should not be made fun of. This is a serious problem.”

The magazine People recaps the entire timeline of this case, and details that filming for this particular scene took place on January 21, 2024, the date Ryan Reynolds was seen in Nicepool costume on the film's exterior set. It was after the crisis meeting organized for “save Never again“which was held precisely on January 4 of that same year.

Other passages from Deadpool & Wolverine are also highlighted as echoing the Lively-Baldoni affair, as (spoilers!) the cruel fate reserved for Nicepool, which allows Ladypool to take her anger out on him. With the blockbuster now available on VOD, DVD and Blu-ray, fans can also dig through its bonus features, particularly its deleted scenes, to try to find other similarities with the director ofIt Ends With Us…

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