Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick held hands briefly at the UK premiere of their new movie Another Simple Favour before cuddling up together for the cameras.
But the gestures weren’t enough to quash feud rumours, which have plagued the A-List stars since the original film A Simple Favour was released in 2018.
Director Paul Feig, who worked on both films with the actresses, tells 9honey Celebrity seeing his two leading ladies pitted against each other is when his “hackles go up”.
Watch the video above.
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“What I just don’t like is the assumption that if two women get together, there’s fighting or whatever,” Feig tells 9honey Celebrity in London.
“It’s crazy, it’s such an old misogynistic trope.”
He says it’s not the first time he’s had to deal with it, copping similar comments from industry insiders as much as the public.
“When I was gonna do Bridesmaids, I had some producer friend I know who was just like, ‘Oh boy, get ready’.
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“‘You’re gonna have six women on set, they’re gonna be fighting the whole time’. I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’
“So, it’s that, that’s what I just don’t… my hackles go up, because it’s like, ‘We had the greatest time, everybody got along great’.
“I don’t know where that’s coming from, other than just old-fashioned thinking.”
In the crime comedy thriller sequel, Lively and Kendrick’s characters – frenemies Emily and Stephanie – head to Italy for Emily’s wedding.
Henry Golding reprises his role as Sean Townsend, Emily’s first husband and Stephanie’s ex-lover.
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But similar to Feig, Golding says working with Lively and Kendrick again was “such a joy”.
“I think it was awesome,” Golding tells 9honey Celebrity.
“It was weird. It’s like, when you go back to a set that you’ve worked on previously, you have the existing relationships but you have this fun, amazing new script that you can really play with because you all know your characters.
“I think it just gives a little extra sort of bravado in kind of throwing stuff on the wall and seeing what sticks, and Paul’s the type of guy who kind of really listens to us, and was like, ‘You know, that’s amazing, let’s do that!’
“So for me, it was such a joy.”
And the collaborations extended beyond the page, with Feig revealling Lively worked together with his costume designer Renée Kalfus to come up with her character’s extraordinary wardrobe.
The extravagant looks across the film are almost another character in the same way the fashion becomes a focal point in shows like Sex & The City.
“What I love about Blake is she’s got some crazy ideas that at first Renée and I are like, ‘Can we do that?’ And it’s like, ‘You know, that’s actually gonna be kind of great’.
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“And then Renée and her team actually figure out how to make it work and it’s just a real winning, winning collaboration.”
Feig, who was an actor before becoming a big time Hollywood writer/director/producer, says he encourages his cast to get involved at every level.
“When I make a movie, I’ve done this my whole career, I bring the actors in to weigh in on and make decisions about their costumes, because they have to play it,” he says.
“I was an actor for many years, and I know you’re so affected by what you’re wearing as much as what you’re saying.”
And the collaborating doesn’t end there, with Feig happy to take on suggestions with scripting and scenes – including Golding’s daring shower scene in the sequel.
“The script that I read in the beginning changed so much, because what Paul is so fantastic about is getting the input from the actors,” Golding tells 9honey Celebrity.
“Because we’re existing cast, we know our characters, we’re like, ‘Well, what about this?’ or ‘how about this?’ and so that [shower scene] was something that we both came up with for the new script.”
The actor, best known for rom-coms such as Crazy Rich Asians and Last Christmas, said he had fun getting a little “wild” in this role.
“It was so much fun changing Sean into this like complete opposite of who he was in the first one, and kind of revelling in his wildness and unpredictability and so the shower scene was one of those things.”
Another Simple Favour is streaming on Prime Video from May 1.
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