Actress Blake Lively has been a celebrity for a long time, but she’s been making a tonof headlines recently. Namely because Lively and Ryan Reynolds have been fighting a legal battle with Justin Baldino, who directed and starred in It Ends With Us (streaming with a Netflix subscription). This has put more eyes on how she and Anna Kendrick are promoting Another Simple Favor, and now a body language expert has dropped their opinions on the women’s behavior.
The public has been following stories about the Gossip Girl actress for months, starting when Lively’s behavior with journalists going viral. But her It Ends With Us lawsuit really turned heads, as did his countersuit. Fans online have been trying to observe Lively and Kendrick while they’re on a promo tour, and body language expert Judi James spoke to Daily Mail about what she thinks is going on between the two actresses. She theorized the outside drama might be influencing things, offering:
It could be the pressure to visually deny rumors of some kind of a rift that is causing their un-relaxed-looking poses, but they’re not seeming to project any sense of an easy-going relationship here.
What we know about Another Simple Favor is limited, but Kendrick and Lively presumably wouldn’t sign up for a sequel if they disliked each other. So perhaps this point stands, and it’s the ongoing It Ends With Us drama and extra eyes that’s resulting on some awkward red carpet moments.
While anticipation for Paul Feig‘s sequel (which will be available for those with an Amazon Prime subscription) is growing, the headlines recently have been about its two stars. James revealed another reason why they might look awkward on the red carpet, offering:
Blake and Anna do have a height differential to deal with but there are few signs of relaxed and authentic fun or rapport here.
She also pointed out that some of the not-so-flattering photos coming from Kendrick and Lively are due to them talking on the red carpet. Specifically, talking at the same time as each other. Although the body language expert also observed some lack of affection, saying:
They also seem to lack synchronization. Standing almost face-to face the arms round each other’s backs looked self-consciously placed rather than part of a partial hugging ritual.
They say that all publicity is good publicity, so it should be interesting to see just how well Another Simple Favor does when it arrives on Amazon. Given the viral nature of Lively, and the streaming success of It Ends With Us, and I have to assume that a ton of eyes will be on the new project. So perhaps this chatter about it stars will be worth it in the end.
All will be revealed when Another Simple Favor hits Amazon on May 1 as part of the 2025 movie release list.