It Ends With Us Director Justin Baldoni Defends Changing Lily and Ryle's Ages From The Book

12 August 2024, 17:37

By Sam Prance

It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover has also admitted that she made a mistake with the original ages of Lily and Ryle.

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It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni has explained why there's a significant difference between Lily and Ryle's ages in the film and in the books.

As soon as the It Ends With Us cast was revealed, there was some backlash from fans of the original books over their ages. While many people were excited to see Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni portray Lily and Ryle, others were concerned that the actors weren't the right fit for the characters. The cast are notably older than both Lily and Ryle are in the books.

Now, Justin Baldoni and author Colleen Hoover have defended their decision to age up Lily and Ryle in the movie.

Read more: What Happens In It Starts With Us? It Ends With Us Book Sequel Summary Explained

How old are Lily and Ryle in It Ends With Us?

Watch the It Ends With Us trailer

In the original It Ends With Us book, Lily Bloom is a recent college graduate and she is just 23-years-old. As for Ryle Kincaid, he's a 30-year-old neurosurgeon and there's a seven year gap between him and Lily. In real life, Blake Lively is 36-years-old and Justin Baldoni is 40 years old. This makes them both over 10 years older than the original characters.

However, the film depicts Lily and Ryle in their mid thirties and now Justin has opened up about the decision to age up both of the characters. Talking to Entertainment Weekly about the initial backlash, Justin said: "When you have a book that is so in the zeitgeist, especially on a TikTok and Instagram, you're always going to have online chatter."

He added: "It didn't really bother me because the fact that they were talking about it was a beautiful thing. If nobody talks about your book adaptation, then I feel like that's more of a problem. Then we should be worried."

Explaining his vision for the movie, Justin said: "I just knew from the beginning the type of movie I wanted to make was not about a 23-year-old girl . I wanted women of all ages to be able to see themselves, and aging up the characters, I think, really helps it become a universal story, and it takes it out of the YA genre."

He then praised Blake adding: "I believed, from the beginning, that Blake Lively is aspirational to young women and would never be seen as too old once they saw the movie."

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in It Ends With Us. Picture: Sony Pictures Releasing / Everett Collection / Alamy

There was actually some controversy with the It Ends With Us book over Ryle being too young to be a neurosurgeon (usually it requires years of training to the point where you would have to be in your mid-thirties to be one). In an appearance at the book festival Book Bonanza in 2023, Colleen Hoover said she saw the film as a chance to correct Lily and Ryle's ages.

Colleen explained: "Back when I wrote It Ends With Us, the new adult [genre] was very popular. You were writing college-age characters. That's what I was contracted to do. I made Lily very young. I didn't know that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years. There's not a 20-something neurosurgeon."

She added: "As I started making this movie, I'm like, we need to age them [up], because I messed up. So that's my fault."