Blake Lively has said It Ends With Us is an “important film to be made” as it “shows the entire spectrum of the female experience”.
The former Gossip Girl star, 36, told the PA news agency on the red carpet in London at the movie’s UK premiere that she was “not often given the opportunity” to play a “messy woman”.
She told PA: “I feel like this is a film that’s important to be made, because as an actor I am not often given the opportunity to tell the story of a woman that really experiences the entire spectrum of the female experience, or human experience.
“When you experience pain, or trauma, or darkness, or sadness, that’s your character, or if you’re light, and levity, and love, and hope, and joy, then that’s your character.
“You don’t often see a woman that gets to be so multifaceted, because you don’t often see messy women in film.
“And so to be able to be a woman who’s contradicting herself, but yet it makes complete sense.
“Seeing the messiness of the human experience I think is a beautiful thing to see, because it makes people feel seen and not alone. I know that’s how I felt when I read Lily (Lively’s character).”
Lively wore a glittering floral dress at the premiere at the Odeon Luxe cinema in Leicester Square.
She was joined by co-star Isabela Ferrer, who plays Lively’s character in her younger years.
When asked about what it was like to mirror Lively’s performance, Ferrer, 24, told PA: “We only spoke twice before I started filming, we had very brief conversations, but it was kindred very quickly.
“We were both like, OK you have this idea, I have this idea, great.
“It was kind of like an immediate chemistry between us, that we knew we could carry this role seamlessly.”
The film is based on the hit novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover.
The book, which has been a phenomenon on TikTok, tells the story of Lily Bloom (Lively and Ferrer) as she falls in love with Ryle Kincaid (played by Justin Baldoni) before reconnecting with her first love Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar).
Earlier this week, Lively arrived at the New York premiere wearing a dress previously worn by Britney Spears.
She appeared on the red carpet in the vintage Versace butterfly dress adorned with sequin flowers that Spears first wore in 2002.
Lively told US magazine People: “It is Britney’s actual dress.
“It should be in the Smithsonian or the Met. But it’s on me. I feel so lucky!”
It Ends With Us is released in UK cinemas on August 9.
