Not Even Taylor Swift Can Convince Fans To Watch ‘It Ends With Us’
It Ends With Us, the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel of the same name, has received its official trailer. However, despite featuring a Taylor Swift song, many remain unimpressed with the upcoming film.
It Ends With Us was published in 2016 and was inspired by Hoover’s mother, who left her abusive relationship with Hoover’s father when Hoover was two years old. The book follows recent college graduate Lily Bloom as she heads to Boston to start a new life for herself and heal from her father’s abuse. She thinks she has found true love in Ryle Kincaid but slowly begins to realize her relationship is paralleling the abusive relationship between her parents.
It Ends With Us has sold over 1 million copies worldwide and has also become one of the #BookTok’s community’s biggest muses on TikTok. Justin Baldoni secured the film rights to It Ends With Us in 2019, and now, the film is becoming a reality with Baldoni directing.
While Hoover fans are likely excited for It Ends With Us, the film has sparked some concerns due to the book’s controversy. Hoover attempts to tell a powerful message about ending the cycle of domestic abuse in her novel, but it is questionable how effectively she does so. It Ends With Us, along with several of her other novels, have been accused of romanticizing domestic abuse. The fact that it’s advertised as a “romance” and focuses so much on the electric relationship between Lily and Ryle has caused some readers on BookTok and YouTube to come away with concerning perceptions of domestic abuse, going so far as to advocate for Lily staying with her abuser.
Meanwhile, the film could either remedy some of the book’s mistakes or make things even worse by continuing to romanticize abuse. Controversy or not, though, the It Ends With Us adaptation is quickly approaching. Here’s everything we know about it so far.
Sony drops the official trailer for It Ends With Us
Sony recently dropped the first official trailer for It Ends With Us. The movie was initially supposed to premiere on February 9, 2024. However, that date has been pushed back to August 9, 2024.
What caught most viewers’ attention about the trailer was that it plays to the backtrack of Taylor Swift’s “My Tears Riochet.” Instead of intriguing viewers, though, the presence of the song led to countless social media users questioning how Hoover adaptation nabbed a Swift song or declaring they wouldn’t see the film regardless of Swift’s music.
Aside from the song choice, not much else sticks out from the trailer. Viewers see Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) opening her own flower shop before meeting Ryle (Justin Baldoni) for the first time. It’s quite clear the pair feel an incredible connection as we see snippets of their seemingly dreamy romance. Then, the hints that something is not right begin as the trailer cuts to Ryle angrily throwing things and kicking chairs. Viewers also get their first look at Brandon Sklenar as Atlas, Lily’s childhood love.
What to expect from It Ends With Us
It Ends With Us has quite the cast stacked up. Leading the film as Lily Bloom is A Simple Favor and Age of Adaline star Blake Lively. Starring opposite her is Baldoni, who will be portraying Ryle and directing. Baldoni is best known for his role as Rafael Solano in Jane the Virgin. Initially, Lively’s and Baldoni’s casting sparked backlash because they were quite a bit older than Ryle and Lily in the book. However, Hoover said the older casting actually fixed a mistake she made in the novel. In the book, Ryle is already an accomplished neurosurgeon at age 30, which is highly unlikely. Hence, having Baldoni, who is 39, as Ryle makes the neurosurgeon aspect more believable, and it only makes sense that Lily would be aged up, too, for the film to avoid having too big of an age gap.
Meanwhile, 1923‘s Brandon Sklenar has signed on to portray Atlas Corrigan, Lily’s childhood love, whom she reconnects with in Boston. Comedian and actress Jenny Slate will also star in It Ends With Us as Allysa, Lily’s co-worker and Ryle’s sister, while comedian and actor Hasan Minhaj will be portraying Allysa’s husband, Marshall. Rounding out the cast are Isabela Ferrer and Alex Neustaedter, who will portray young Lily and young Atlas, respectively.
Storywise, It Ends With Us is expected to follow the book’s plot fairly closely, following Lily as she struggles to come to terms with the reality of her relationship with Ryle and finds things further complicated by the unexpected arrival of her former boyfriend, Atlas, on the scene. The novel is split between the past and present, and the casting of a young Atlas and Lily suggests the film might also be told partially through flashbacks.
(featured image: Lionsgate / Atria Books)
Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com
