Category: Articles & Interviews

How Blake Lively learned to stop saying ‘I’m sorry’

USA TODAY – In “A Simple Favor,” Blake Lively plays her most unapologetic character yet.

Emily (Lively) is a martini-swilling, foul-mouthed enigma: effortlessly cool and besotted with her husband (Henry Golding) and young son (Ian Ho), but secretly desperate to escape their cushy suburban lifestyle and unleash her dark side.

Peppy mommy blogger Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is instantly drawn to Emily when they meet at their children’s school, and begins to emulate her confident approach to life as their friendship deepens.

Never say sorry — it’s a (expletive) up female habit,” Emily reprimands Stephanie early in the R-rated thriller (in theaters Sept. 14). It’s a reminder that Lively, 31, finds empowering, both in her own career and in the context of the film.

I don’t think it’s a female-specific thing, although maybe females are encouraged to apologize more often for themselves, unfairly,Lively tells USA TODAY.  “But I actually really love that Emily makes note of that: ‘Stop minimizing yourself, you don’t need to apologize.’ She sees a lot of value in Stephanie and is trying to say, ‘Step into your skin.’ She thinks this woman is awesome.

The “Gossip Girl” actress admits that, early in her career, she often felt discouraged from voicing opinions in meetings or on a set. But by choosing to work with open-minded collaborators, including “Simple” director Paul Feig, she learned to stop saying “sorry” for speaking up.

With age, you get more and more confident,Lively says. “I spent a lot of my creative life trying to just go along with it, and when I had ideas, I felt like they weren’t encouraged. People just want you to show up, put on clothes, say words that aren’t yours and do what you’re told to do, versus actually being a creative partner. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized how much better work I do when I get to collaborate, and it’s really not worth it otherwise.

“So I’ve found that the work I’m most proud of are the experiences in which I was valued and those are not ones where you’re apologizing — those are ones where any idea is welcomed and heard. Those experiences teach me to stand up for what I believe in, creatively.

Blake Lively’s engagement ring in A Simple Favor was inspired by Princess Diana’s

Blake Lively’s engagement ring in A Simple Favor was inspired by Princess Diana’s

Warning: Minor spoilers ahead. 

From crystal-studded Christian Louboutins to a snap-off dickie (yes, dickie), there is more than a concession stand’s worth of fashion eye candy in the dark comedic thriller A Simple Favor. But one accessory truly stole the spotlight: the giant sapphire-and-diamond engagement ring that Blake Lively’s character, Emily Nelson, wears, which once belonged to the character’s mother-in-law — and serves as an important plot point for the film.

The dazzling piece bears an uncanny resemblance to another (very famous) family heirloom, and according to the film’s costume designer, Renée Ehrlich Kalfus, that similarity was on purpose.

It’s a take on Princess Diana’s ring,” she says, referencing the 12-carat oval sapphire surrounded by diamonds that’s now worn by Kate Middleton. “I wanted to do something vintage, but the director [Paul Feig] thought it should be more on the nose.

The traditional ring is an interesting choice for the anything-but-traditional Emily. She’s a high-powered fashion publicist who works in New York City, but lives in a Connecticut suburb with her husband and son, much to her dissatisfaction. “She doesn’t care about fitting in,” Kalfus says of the character. “She had her own agenda.

To convey that message, Kalfus looked to a trio of iconic Hollywood stars — Katherine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Diane Keaton — as well as the movie’s director for inspiration. “Paul goes to work every day in a Savile Row suit,” says Kalfus of Feig, who also directed Bridesmaids and Spy. “He feels he can get anyone to answer anything while wearing a suit.

She then tapped Feig and Lively’s contacts at Ralph Lauren for access to their vintage archives and was able to use several looks, including a three-piece suit and a killer tuxedo, all custom-tailored for Lively. Kalfus decked out each look with men’s jewelry like vintage watch fobs and multiple tie bars. “It gave her more armor, more stuff to keep people away,” says Kalfus.

Even covered up head-to-toe in a suit, Emily finds ways to flash more than just a little skin. In one early scene, she removes her jacket and shirt (which turns out to be not much more than a collar), before enjoying a gin martini (her signature drink) in a low-cut vest and a pair of faux cuffs, while her new (and visibly flustered) mom friend, Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) looks on.

I don’t think we told Anna that it was going to happen,” says Kalfus of the striptease-like sequence. “It was just a way of making Emily more intimidating and kind of weird.

In a later scene, Emily appears to forgo a top altogether under her suit jacket, although Kalfus swears she had on a blouse. (“It was very strategically tucked into a cummerbund, just enough to give a little side boob.”)

Accessories added another element of sex appeal, most notably Emily’s enviable collection of Louboutins, which we get a glimpse of in a shot of her enormous closet. “Because Blake has a relationship with Louboutin, we got boxes and boxes of boots, loafers, and heels.” All of the footwear is spectacular, but one pair of six-inch sparkly ombre Louboutins  stands out to Kalfus. “Blake had to run in them and she was like, ‘It’s fine, I can do this.’”

Not to be completely overshadowed by her glamorous friend, Kendrick’s Stephanie — a DIY mommy vlogger who’s desperate to fit in — has some memorable style moments of her own in the movie, including a hilarious scene featuring a pair of cat socks from Target.

After spending more time with Emily, Stephanie gets inspired to up her own style game by wearing an Alice + Olivia pom pom sweater and floral skirt (below). “When Anna put on that outfit she said, ‘I’m not sure I get this,’” says Kalfus with a laugh. “And I said, ‘trust me.’”

Kalfus pushed the costume boundaries with both characters for a reason — to suck you into the movie. “You should want to be one of of these women while you’re watching it. It’s that aspirational piece that gets you involved in the story.

People

Blake Lively explains why she dislikes ‘Idyllic’ mommy blogs

Blake Lively explains why she dislikes ‘Idyllic’ mommy blogs

People – In her new thriller A Simple Favor, actress and mother of two Blake Lively plays a fashion executive who is best friends with a mommy blogger (played by Anna Kendrick).

But in real life, the mom to daughters Inez, 2 this month, and James, 3½, with husband Ryan Reynolds says she can’t stand looking at mom blogs — unless she needs some sort of comic relief.

They’re one of the greatest brands of humor,Lively tells PEOPLE for this week’s issue. “It’s just these images of people in their idyllic lives and these worlds that leave me like, ‘I’m just a terrible parent and don’t have it figured out at all.’

But the 31-year-old star says she knows that what she’s looking at isn’t actually real. I love thinking about what their house looks like in the image [they’re presenting] and then thinking about what it actually looks like behind that perfect shot,” she explains.

In 2016, the Gossip Girl alum joked on Late Night With Seth Myers about following a “perfect” mom blogger on Instagram.

Her toddler is giving her reflexology massages. What?! My kid is, like, playing with explosive devices,” she joked. “I don’t know where she found them. She already knows how to drywall because she puts holes in the wall.

In 2017, Lively also opened up to PEOPLE about her parenting style. “I think it’s hard to slap labels on any parents because it’s just so tricky. It’s like every moment you’re figuring out what the heck you’re doing,” she said.  “You think, ‘Ooh, should I be more strict, or should I be more, I don’t know, emotional?’ Or whatever it is.

The star added, “If anybody knows how to be a parent, I feel like grandparents really know how to be parents. But parents, you just figure it out as you go. So, I wouldn’t put a label on it.

For more from Blake Lively, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

The Hollywood Reporter Interview (Video)

In Studio With Blake Lively: Playing a Blind Woman Who Regained Sight in ‘All I See is You’ interview by The Hollywood Reporter…

Blake Lively Opens Up about the “Most Intense Film” of Her Career

How All I See Is You challenged Lively to dig into a difficult role and see nude scenes in a new light.

In the upcoming drama All I See Is You, Blake Lively plays a nearly blind woman whose sight is restored after an urgent, miraculous surgery. The character, Gina, then goes through a whirlwind of change, discovering new things about herself, her sexuality, and her marriage. It’s a fraught psychological affair, with Gina’s husband (played by Jason Clarke) slowly realizing that he misses the days when his wife was wholly dependent on him.

“It’s the performance that I’m most proud of,” Lively tells Vanity Fair.

Directed by Marc Forster, the film requires a lot of Lively, who appears in nearly every scene as her character transforms from a meek woman into a determined siren. Forster shapes the drama with experimental flair, featuring kaleidoscopic imagery and racy scenes that required Lively to appear partially nude on screen for the first time in her career.

That was so outside her wheelhouse that Lively almost never saw the script in the first place; her team assumed she would not be interested in a role that required nudity, and Forster was unwilling to remove it. “I thought well, he’s not unmoving. Let me read it and if it’s great, then I’ll [talk] him out of it.”

So Lively read the script, and instantly fell in love—nude scene and all. The way Forster had written it actually changed the way Lively viewed on-screen nudity: “I always find nudity distracting,” she says. “I’m very in love with my husband, but if there’s a pair of boobs out, I’m a human being! You’re like ‘boobs!’ It doesn’t mean I’m lusting for them, [but] when there’s naked boobies, you look at them.”

For character research, Lively consulted with blind friends and experimented with using blackout glasses. Throughout the film, the actress also has to wear a variety of contact lenses to show her character’s evolving states of visibility. In an act of true kismet, the on-set lens technician who worked with Lively had actually gone through something similar to her character’s experience, and was able to serve as an instant resource for the actress.

“I was really acting for her,” she says. “[I would ask] is this the accurate reaction? How do you feel? If I would make her laugh, or if I would make her cry . . . then I knew I was doing my job.”

The film took place and was actually shot in Thailand last year. Lively leapt right into the job just four months after giving birth to her second daughter, working grueling 19-hour work days. “I don’t remember a moment that we weren’t filming,” she says. “It was the most intense film I’d ever been on.”

When asked how one manages to keep up regular 19-hour work days, Lively laughs: “You just stop sleeping at night.”

All I See Is You hits theaters on October 27. Check out an poster and screencaps we have added to the gallery…

Glamour Magazine (Scans)

Blake candidly opening up about Ryan her other half – who she married in 2012 – as she talks to Glamour magazine that their friendship manage to the lay the foundations for a loving relationship and has been vital in overcoming conflict.

And while a girl’s girl, she insisted that unlike previous romances she now goes to Ryan for advice and a shoulder to cry rather than her girlfriends.

She began: ‘In other relationships, if something came up, I would call my girlfriends, or my sister, and say, “Hey, this is what he did – what should I do?”

‘Whereas with him (Ryan Reynolds), we were friends for two years before we were ever dating. And I treat him like my girlfriend.

‘I’m like, “Hey, this happened. It upset me. This is how I feel. What do I do?” And he does the same for me. He treats me like his best buddy.’

While gushing about their respect for one another, Blake gave fans of her husband’s Twitter account – which has amassed over 6.5million followers – some insight into the thought process behind his hilarious tweets that tend to focus on their daughters.

The former Gossip Girl actress – who shares daughters James, two, and 10-month-old Ines with the Hollywood actor – admitted that he makes-up most of his ‘scenarios’ for comic value but it’s what she loves about him.

We have added scans from both US and UK Glamour to the gallery…

Variety’s Power of Women New York 2017

Each year, Variety highlights five prominent women who are using their clout and influence to bring attention to worthy causes. This year’s honorees are: Jessica Chastain (Planned Parenthood), Chelsea Clinton (Alliance for a Healthier Generation), Gayle King (SEO Scholars), Blake Lively (Child Rescue Coalition), Audra McDonald (Covenant House), and Shari Redstone (Legal Services Corp.).

Blake Lively wants to use the power of the web to crack down on child pornography. The movie star (“The Shallows,” “Café Society”) is working with the Child Rescue Coalition on promoting a groundbreaking technology that flags the IP addresses of people who share and download sexually explicit images of minors.

The actress and L’Oreal pitchwoman found out about the nonprofit at an event sponsored by the beauty brand. “There are millions of files all over the world being traded every single day of child pornography,” says Lively, who was drawn to the cause as the mother of two young children. “It’s so disturbing. A lot of these people are fathers.”

Coalition CEO Carly Asher Yoost says she and Lively were immediately simpatico. “We hit it off, and we’re both passionate about protecting kids,” says Yoost, who founded the nonprofit organization in 2013, in Boca Raton, Fla. “We stayed in touch, and she really wanted to help. She got us a meeting at a technology summit at Facebook.”

Yoost hopes to convince internet providers to block users from sharing child pornography, as she points to research that suggests 85% of those who consume it have abused children. “Our mission is to protect the innocent,” Yoost says. “We try to get [the data] in the hands of law enforcement.”

By partnering with officers in 67 countries, the Child Rescue Coalition has led to the arrest of 9,000 predators, and rescued 2,084 children from active abuse. “If you proactively find these predators, you can save so many children,” says Lively.

Source: Variety

Blake’s New Year’s Resolution

Blake Lively is the latest celeb to admit that snapping back to your pre-pregnancy body doesn’t come easy. She’s doing it with lots of gym time, an entire diet program, and a New Year’s resolution to hold her accountable.

“New Years resolution started early — I WILL fit into my jeans again gall darnet,” she captioned a pic of her food haul on Monday night. “Thanks @getepicured for making it tasty.”

And while a celeb endorsement like that doesn’t usually come cheap, this one was free. “This is not an ad,” she continued. “This is me getting it up for healthy food. ?????.”

But a nutrition regimen is just the beginning of her post-baby body plan of action. She’s also hitting the gym hard — at least when she’s not hiding from her personal trainer, Don Saladino.

There’s A Chance ‘Gossip Girl’ Might Come Back To TV?

It’s the era of television reboots, and it looks like the CW’s “Gossip Girl” might be getting it’s moment next.

According to a report from E! News, the show’s executive producers, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, are not ruling out the possibility of a revival.

When asked if he would consider doing a reboot, Josh replied,

We haven’t really explored some of those conversations. Maybe, I don’t know. We haven’t really thought about it.

He also added “the internet has changed” and he would be interested in exploring how Serena and Blair would fair with new social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram.

So, although that sounds like a “maybe, probably not” to a normal person, in industry speak that’s a lot more optimistic.

To me, it sounds like they’re at least trying to work on something — it’s hard to believe the producers hadn’t even thought about it amidst the publicity for the “Gilmore Girls” and “Fuller House” reboot series.

“Gossip Girl” ended in 2012, so it might be a bit too soon to launch a revival just yet. Maybe we’ll hear about it again in upcoming years.

And of course, whether Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and the rest of the cast would come back if there WAS a revival would be a whole different story.

As the girls would say, only time will tell.

“I never imagined I’d be in a Woody Allen film”

Actress Blake Lively was so anxious on her first day of shooting Woody Allen’s Café Society that she had to hold her co-star’s hand.

Blake Lively was shocked when she was asked to audition for Woody Allen’s new movie Café Society because she never saw herself as “fitting in” the director’s world. The comedy drama is set in 1930s Hollywood and tells the love triangle story between Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg), Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) and Veronica (Blake Lively).

Making her name in teen drama TV series Gossip Girl, Blake, 28, has recently been branching out into more serious roles, including a recent turn as a troubled surfer in The Shallows. But she never anticipated being cast in one of Woody’s offbeat dramas, and was extremely nervous when she auditioned for the role, especially as she wasn’t given any details about the character before she read the lines for the famed director.

“I did it once in a room with a couple of people and Woody – no cameras, very low-key. Then he says, ‘OK, do it again. Just this time, louder’. I realised I must have been whispering, I was so nervous,” she told Total Film magazine. “But the next day, I got a phone call asking if I wanted to do it. A Woody Allen movie is such specific writing, such a refined cadence, so I never saw myself fitting into that world, though I love it.”

Blake, who is married to actor Ryan Reynolds, was also extremely worried on the first day of filming Café Society as one of her first scenes had a lot of lengthy dialogue and she didn’t want to stumble on her words.

“(Co-star) Parker Posey was holding my hand under the table,” she confided. “I was intimidated because he’s an iconic filmmaker.

Café Society is showing in U.S. theatres now and opens in U.K. cinemas on 2 September (16).