Blake Lively Debuts New ‘Simple Favor’ Movie to a Warm Welcome at SXSW Amid Legal Battle
earned a very warm welcome from the Austin audience at the opening night of the SXSW Film and TV festival, as star premiered her first movie since her ongoing and well-publicized legal battle with her It Ends with Us director and co-star .
Lively was on hand at The Paramount theater, along with her co-star , director Paul Feig, and much of the rest of the film’s cast including Andrew Rannells, Elizabeth Perkins and Alex Newell.
“I love these characters so much and thought they would be so fun to revisit,” said Feig in the post-screening Q&A of making the sequel. For her part, Lively called her Simple Favor character, Emily Nelson, “My favorite character I have ever been fortunate enough to play.”
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Another Simple Favor, which will hit Amazon’s streaming service on May 1, takes place after the events of the 2018 film and follows Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) and Emily (Lively) as they head to the island of Capri for the latter’s lavish wedding. Emily is set to marry a wealthy Italian businessman, with murder and betrayal finding their way onto the agenda.
A Simple Favor grossed $97 million at the global box office and has steadily reached camp classic status as audiences flocked to the movie on streaming. Lively said at the premiere, “I was really nervous on the first one, because I didn’t know if we were making a drama or a comedy. We asked Paul, and he said ‘Yes,’ which is not really an answer to the question.”
The second film ups the ante in the camp department, with more outrageous outfits and plot twists than the first movie. “Right before we started shooting [Feig] said, ‘I have a real curve ball idea.’ I am not going to say what it was because I am not going to give away anything but it definitely upped the ante. It was very uncomfortable to watch in this theater with all of you,” said Lively of one of the film’s particularly unexpected turns.
As for Kendrick, she said that she was excited to return for Another Simple Favor but questioned her character’s willingness to see her murderous best friend again. ”On this one, I thought, if I am going with her into certain peril, that I guess she wouldn’t take any of it that seriously,” said Kendrick. “And I had just rewatched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang where Robert Downey is like, ‘There is murder and mayhem but I’m fine!’”
The Austin audience appreciated being back in the world of A Simple Favor. And, at this year’s SXSW, Amazon titles make up the lion’s share of the headliners. Outside of Simple Favor, the studio will also premiere Ben Affleck-starrer The Accountant 2 and Nicole Kidman’s thriller Holland.
At a panel right before the Friday premiere, Amazon MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke and head of film Courtenay Valenti talked about the studio’s theatrical efforts, saying that Amazon MGM would release 12 to 14 movies theatrically in 2026. This comes after the studio announced plans to expand their international distribution and marketing efforts and before they make their debut in front of theater owners at CinemaCon next month.
Valenti said, “This company is committed to theatrical and I think the real evidence of it is our expansive slate.”
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