Taylor Swift played a larger role in It Ends With Us, Justin Baldoni revealed

An unpublished interview with Justin Baldoni suggests Taylor Swift’s involvement in It Ends With Us was larger than previously thought.

Taylor Swift allegedly played a bigger role in the production of “It Ends With Us” than what sources have led the public to believe.

The film’s director, Justin Baldoni, and actor Isabela Ferrer, who played a supporting role in the drama, have said in separate interviews that the pop superstar was involved in the latter’s casting.

In a resurfaced clip from a sit-down with “Access Hollywood,” Baldoni, 41, claimed he cast Ferrer, 25, to play a younger version of Blake Lively’s character, Lily, because they resembled one another and the Hollywood newbie is a “phenomenal actor.”

“I had actually brought in and showed her casting tape to Blake and Taylor and they were both, like, ‘Yes! Her’,” the director then divulged. “And that’s a true story.”

Blake Lively and Isabela Ferrer at the UK Gala Screening of It Ends With Us at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, in London, last year. Picture: Lia Toby / Getty

Ferrer, for her part, confirmed to “Extra” at the premiere of “It Ends With Us” that Swift, 35, had “some influence” in her getting the role.

“I don’t even know if I’m supposed to be saying it, but I’m saying it!” she added hesitantly. “Yeah, she was a helpful part of the process for the audition, which I found out later after I got it and that rocked my world. I have no words.”

Additionally, Lively said she asked Swift permission to use her song “My Tears Ricochet” in the film’s trailer and soundtrack and claimed the singer was by her side “throughout this whole process.”

“I think that, for better or worse, she experienced the whole thing with me,” the “Gossip Girl” alum, 37, told “CBS Mornings” in August 2024.

“This was actually — it’s quite a small budget movie. … So we never thought, like, our eyeballs were not that big to think that we could put one of her songs in the movie and it had to be.”

Despite these on-camera admissions, sources have tried to distance Swift from Baldoni and Lively’s ongoing legal feud, even going so far as to claim that the “Lover” singer was duped by her friend.

Baldoni received an award in December from the Voices of Solidarity Awards in New York. Picture: Bryan Bedder / Getty

Lively and Baldoni act out a scene on set during filming of It Ends with Us in New Jersey. Picture: Jose Perez / GC Images

In January, Baldoni name-dropped Swift in his US$400 million (A$625m) extortion and defamation lawsuit against Lively after the latter accused him of sexual harassment and other claims in a California Civil Rights Department complaint and her own subsequent lawsuit.

The “Jane the Virgin” alum claimed he was invited to Lively’s New York City penthouse to discuss her script rewrites with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and “a famous, and famously close, friend,” referencing Swift.

Lively allegedly texted Baldoni after the meeting, “If you ever get around to watching ‘Game of Thrones,’ you’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons,” referring to Swift and Reynolds, 48.

“For better or worse, but usually for better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you.”

The friends arrive at a private party at Lucalli Pizza restaurant in Brooklyn, New York last year. Picture: Robert Kamau / GC Images

At the 2024 Super Bowl last year. Lively was noticeably absent from the event this year. Picture: Steph Chambers / Getty

Baldoni’s lawyers argued in the suit that their client “felt obliged to text Lively to say that he had liked her pages and hadn’t needed Reynolds and her mega-celebrity friend to pressure him.”

They added, “The message could not have been clearer. Baldoni was not just dealing with Lively. He was also facing Lively’s ‘dragons,’ two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world, who were not afraid to make things very difficult for him.”

Sources then began to speak out, claiming that the Grammy winner felt “used” by Lively and that she “doesn’t appreciate being referred to as one of Blake’s dragons.”

Hollywood couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively at the SNL50: The Anniversary Special last week in New York. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty

A “well-connected” insider also claimed to TMZ that Swift “had no idea” there was a meeting being held with Baldoni when she was invited to Lively’s penthouse that day.

Additionally, Page Six has been told that the “You Belong With Me” singer is “hurt by this whole situation,” feels like a “pawn” and is “taking a break from their friendship.”

Swift herself has not commented on the scandal and her rep has not returned Page Six’s repeated requests for comment.

A separate source previously claimed to Page Six that the “All Too Well” singer and Lively are still good friends and that rumours of a strained relationship are “not true.”

Swift and Lively at Movie World on the Gold Coast, Australia. Picture: Supplied

The “Age of Adeline” star still follows Swift on Instagram but was noticeably absent from the Super Bowl 2025, where the “So High School” singer gathered with her closest pals to cheer on Travis Kelce.

A trial date for Lively and Baldoni’s cases has been set for March 9, 2026.

Baldoni’s lead lawyer, Bryan Freedman, has said he is considering deposing Swift for his case, but an official decision on that matter has not yet been made.

This story was originally published in The New York Post

Originally published as Taylor Swift played a larger role in It Ends With Us, Justin Baldoni revealed