Justin Baldoni made an unexpectedly dramatic entrance to surprise fans at a screening of It Ends With Us in Los Angeles.
On Friday, August 23, the director, 40, and his wife found themselves stuck inside of an elevator ahead of their AMC Century City event. He documented the incident with a video shared to his Instagram account, in which he could be seen joking about how his wife Emily was "trying not to freak out."
"You guys want to know something really funny? We just got stuck in an elevator," Baldoni told the audience. There were about six other people in the elevator at the time, one of whom tried to turn the elevator's main control switch on and off in hopes of resetting it.
In the video, Baldoni can also be seen saying, "The AMC Century City is gonna love this. Hilarious!" Baldoni, who in addition to directing and producing, also starred in It Ends With Us, has been surprising fans at an assortment of screenings for the film. Alongside the funny clip, Baldoni shared his gratitude for fans' support of the movie.
"Thank you to everyone who has seen @itendswithusmovie. These theater surprises have been one of my favorite experiences, and meeting you all in person and hearing your stories means more to me than you could ever know," he wrote. He also thanked the "amazing teams" at AMC Theaters for "being so gracious and for getting us out of the elevator."
"I hope you continue to share your stories and help us spread awareness and hope for the survivors and victims of DV. Please go to @nomoreorg (link in bio) if you need help or resources," continued Baldoni, who plays Ryle Kincaid in the movie, and has shown a much more serious tone throughout promotion for It Ends With Us.
His lead actress and co-star, Blake Lively, has caught flack for her more cavalier promotion of the movie. "Grab your friends, wear your florals.... but forget the sole purpose of this film is to raise awareness to domestic violence ? Wth is this press lol only Justin [Baldoni] sharing the message is wild," one person wrote in the comments section of a video promoting the movie on Instagram.
She was also called out by Meghan McCain, who called her PR strategy "very insensitive and quite frankly, strange" on her podcast, Citizen McCain.
"If you're taking on the responsibility of telling the story about a woman in a domestic violence situation, you have to be respectful that you're representing millions and millions of women and men who are victims of domestic violence," she said.
Other fans have defended Lively amid the ongoing backlash. "Very tired of the fake moral superiority thing people are doing online where someone doing the right thing is still somehow not enough because it wasn't when you decided they should've done it," one fan fired back at those who were critical of when Lively decided to post helplines and other information for domestic violence survivors.
The negative press surrounding It Ends With Us has also led to a host of old interviews with Lively resurfacing, like the one Norwegian-born journalist Kjersti Flaa said made her want to "quit her job."
It Ends With Us is in theaters now.
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