Actor Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni go to New York in required effort to avoid trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni came to a New York courthouse on Wednesday to see if her lawsuit alleging sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 romantic drama “It Ends With Us” could be settled before a May trial.

The talks between lawyers went on over a six-hour period before Lively and Baldoni left the Manhattan federal courthouse separately and went straight to their waiting cars without saying anything. Lively looked stern as she walked out while Baldoni was smiling. Their lawyers did not immediately comment.

Mandatory settlement talks are generally required before a civil case proceeds to trial. They are not held in public.

Their acrimonious yearlong litigation has cast a wide net across the entertainment world, drawing into the headlines other actors, musicians and celebrities and raising questions about the power, influence and gender dynamics in Hollywood.

Lively sued Baldoni and his hired crisis communications expert alleging harassment and a coordinated campaign to attack her reputation after she complained about his treatment of her on the movie set.

Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios production company countersued Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed that suit last June.

The trial, scheduled for May 18, was expected to be star-studded. Lively’s legal team had indicated in court papers that people likely to have information about the case included singer Taylor Swift, model Gigi Hadid, actors Emily Blunt, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera and Hugh Jackman, influencer Candace Owens, media personality Perez Hilton and designer Ashley Avignone.