Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni share an intense connection in It Ends With Us first-look photos

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni begin an intense relationship in a first look at It Ends With Us, the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel of the same name.

Sony shared first-look photos of the romance drama in theaters Aug. 9 that feature Lively and Baldoni as love interests, as well as a first look at Jenny Slate and Brandon Sklenar.

Directed by Baldoni with a screenplay by Christy Hall, It Ends With Us tells the story of Lily (Lively), a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood with an abusive father and embarks on a new life in Boston to pursue her dream of opening a business.

She falls in love with charming neurosurgeon Ryle (Baldoni), whose abusive behavior continues the cycle Lily witnessed as a child. When Lily's childhood love Atlas (Sklenar) reappears in her life, "her relationship with Ryle is upended, and Lily realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future," per the synopsis.

Slate portrays Ryle's sister Allysa. The cast is rounded out by Hasan Minhaj (as Allysa's husband Marshall) and Amy Morton (as Lily's mother Jenny).

Lively and Baldoni also executive produced alongside Hoover, Steve Sarowitz, Andrew Calof, and Andrea Ajemian.

The casting of Lively and Baldoni previously drew some controversy due to the age discrepancies between the actors and their characters. (Lively is 36, whereas Lily is 23, and Baldoni is 40, whereas Ryle is 30.) But Hoover told Today last year that the film adaptation provided an opportunity to remedy the ages she believes the characters should have been in the source material.

"Back when I wrote It Ends With Us, the new adult [genre] was very popular," Hoover said. "You were writing college-age characters. That's what I was contracted to do. I made Lily very young. I didn't know that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years. There's not a 20-something neurosurgeon. As I started making this movie, I'm like, we need to age them, because I messed up. So that's my fault."

All in all, Hoover is "extremely happy with the casting" of Lively and Baldoni, she said.

It Ends With Us is in theaters Aug. 9.

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