Justin Baldoni previously faced a lawsuit alleging he stole the script for his 2019 directorial debut, Five Feet Apart.
Screenwriter Travis Flores claimed Baldoni took his romance script, Three Feet Distance, which was inspired by Flores’ own life with cystic fibrosis.
Flores hired lawyer Bryan Freedman, who is now defending Baldoni in a separate lawsuit filed by Blake Lively.
According to the lawsuit, Flores claims Baldoni stole his movie idea, Three Feet Distance, which was inspired by Flores’ own life with cystic fibrosis.
Flores alleges that after sharing his script with a mutual contact in 2015, Baldoni read it and soon began working on a similar romance film, Five Feet Apart, with his production firm, Wayfarer Entertainment, featuring teenagers with cystic fibrosis.
The lawsuit claims that a year later, Baldoni invited Flores to participate in his produced and presented documentary series, My Last Days, which chronicled the lives of multiple young individuals facing terminal disease.
Flores eventually made an appearance in the 2016 documentary. Flores passed away in 2024 at the age of 33 from complications related to the condition.
However, Flores claimed in the documents that there were more parallels outside the title Five Feet Apart and the overall plot.
Additionally, he charged that Baldoni had plagiarised more specific plot points, characters, and ideas from his script, including the fact that both protagonists had deceased sisters and that both works emphasise “living in the here and now.”
“The similarities between the two works extend far beyond the limited examples referenced above,” read the 2021 filing.
“Some of the similarities are seemingly small, like the wardrobe choice of showing the main character for the first time wearing a v-neck t-shirt. Others are more significant to the overall development of the works.”
Since the lawsuit’s filing, Justin hasn’t spoken out publicly about Flores’ accusations.
