Blake Lively on Realizing Isabela Ferrer Perfectly Fit Younger Lily in ‘It Ends With Us’

Blake Lively and Isabela Ferrer share an on-screen connection in It Ends With Us, portraying different stages of the lead character, Lily Bloom. Their resemblance — down to a mole below their right eyes — is uncanny, but the two had never met before working together on the film, which is based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling book.

Lively shared with The Hollywood Reporter that she was instantly taken by Ferrer’s audition tape. “We were like, ‘This is crazy,’” Lively recalls. “And there were other great actresses who gave great performances, but there was just no one but her. Her performance was so strong, her heart was so strong.”

Ferrer, honored to play the younger version of Lily, was equally grateful for the opportunity. “I knew how important this movie was and how important Colleen is,” she says. “Also, what a nice compliment to be like, ‘Could you play young Blake Lively?’ That’s the biggest compliment I’ve ever gotten in my whole life.” This role was particularly significant for Ferrer as it marked her debut in a feature film.

Lively quickly became a mentor to Ferrer, encouraging her to trust her abilities and own her portrayal of Lily. Ferrer recalls, “You came up to me and you were like, ‘I want you to know that this role is just as much yours as it is mine.’” This supportive atmosphere helped Ferrer shine in her performance.

Off-camera, their bond deepened into a friendship, with Lively humorously considering herself a “stage mom” for Ferrer. “The film is my side hustle. Isabella is my main priority,” joked the Gossip Girl star.

Ferrer, in turn, provided emotional support to Lively. “She knows I’m feeling something that nobody else in the room knows, and it’ll just feel like the sweet hand on my shoulder or on my leg or on my back,” Lively mentioned.

It Ends With Us, directed by Justin Baldoni (who also plays Ryle), tells the story of Lily’s journey to break free from a traumatic past and an abusive relationship. While the film includes a love story, its core message centers on a woman’s strength to end domestic violence, resonating deeply with audiences since the book’s 2016 release.

Lively, also a producer on the project, stressed the importance of telling the story with love and empathy, dismissing claims that the film romanticizes domestic abuse. “We’re saying life is messy, love is messy, people are messy. It’s not Google Maps. You haven’t arrived at your destination,” she explains. “You are with Lily on this journey. It’s very important that you weren’t watching her, it was important that you were her… you feel it as her.”

Playing present-day Lily was special for Lively, offering a unique combination of emotions that she says are rare to find in a single character. “I’ve been given the opportunity to play characters that have levity and light and humor. And I’ve been given opportunities to play characters that have immense darkness and weight and trauma and drama,” she explains. “But you don’t normally get both at the same time, and this really has the entire spectrum and every color of human emotion: the messiness of it, the beauty of it, the pain of it, in a story that feels incredibly honest and real.”

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Source: The Hollywood Reporter