At the South by Southwest premiere of “Another Simple Favor,” Blake Lively spoke in public for the first time since her legal battle with Justin Baldoni began in December.
“I love this character so much. It’s probably my favorite character I’ve ever been fortunate enough to play,” she said onstage at Austin’s Paramount Theater after the screening. “So when Paul asked us to come back, I was so excited.”
Though no one referenced the Baldoni controversy directly, support for Lively among her collaborators was clear. On the red carpet before the premiere, director Paul Feig told Variety that she is “the most amazing collaborator,” adding that “every movie star has opinions about what they’re doing. I haven’t worked with one that doesn’t want to get in there and work on stuff and make it better. That’s our process. I love that Blake works that way.”
Lively skipped doing interviews on the carpet, but did visit and take selfies with fans cheering for her in front of the theater; minus the presence of one pro-Baldoni protestor outside of the premiere, who wore a shirt saying “Blake Lied,” SXSW gave her a warm welcome. There were whispers and excitement throughout the auditorium when she made her way to her seat, flanked by two bodyguards and two publicists, Leslie Sloane and Jami Kandel of Vision PR — though she she still took time to say hello to her seatmates. The crowd erupted into applause and cheers every time Lively’s name was mentioned in the introduction to the film, and even more loudly when she first appeared on screen, saying, “Boo!”
Source: https://variety.com/2025/film/news/blake-lively-speaks-in-public-baldoni-sxsw-1236331731/