Blake Lively Says ‘The Rhythm Section’ Is ‘One of the Most Rewarding Movies’ She’s ‘Ever Done’ — Here’s Why
Blake Lively’s latest movie, The Rhythm Section, an action-packed thriller that hit theaters on Jan. 31, 2020, means a lot to the 32-year-old actress. Ahead, find out why Lively says the film is among the “most rewarding” she’s “ever done.”
Lively got her first movie role in 2005’s The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. America Ferrara, Amber Tamblyn, and Gilmore Girls actress Alexis Bledel starred alongside her in the film and they remain friends today. From there, the now-mother-of-three starred in The CW’s hit TV show Gossip Girl playing Serena van der Woodsen until the series ended in 2012. Since then she’s been focusing on film roles starring in A Simple Favor (2018), The Shallows (2016), and The Age of Adaline (2015) among others.
What is ‘The Rhythm Section’ about?
Stephanie Patrick (Lively) is a woman seeking revenge after learning her family died in a plane crash that only appeared accidental. The Rhythm Section is based on author Mark Burnell’s 1999 novel of the same name. Lively stars in the film alongside Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown of NBC’s This Is Us.
She trained for 8 months before filming began
Lively trained for eight months to get in “pretty crazy shape” before filming began following the birth of her and husband Ryan Reynolds’ second child, Inez. In a YouTube video for Vanity Fair published on Jan. 31, 2020, Lively recounted what she did to prep for the movie including swimming, rock climbing, and using her daughters as weights, saying now she eats donuts and tries to forget about the movie prep.
She also worked with a dialect coach on her British accent, took defensive driving lessons, and practiced for fight scenes. The actress sported gloves at promotional events leading up to The Rhythm Section’s premiere because she “shattered” her hand punching her costar Jude Law while filming the movie.
Blake Lively calls movie ‘rewarding’ because ‘you can really put yourself in that scenario’
At the end of the Vanity Fair video, Lively explained why she found The Rhythm Section to be “one of the most rewarding movies” she’s “ever done” saying the author of The Rhythm Section (Burnell) wrote the script and kept the movie “grounded” taking a realistic approach to the action-thriller genre.
“So while I read the book, we went in such a different direction with the movie by making it very grounded,” she said.
“As an actor, it was one of the most rewarding movies I’ve ever done because the idea is what would you do if you were in this scenario. And so it’s terrifying every moment because you can really put yourself in that scenario and say like, ‘If this were me, what would I do?’”
“It’s kind of fun to see a real person in that world,” she added.
They shot where ‘Game of Thrones’ filmed
Game of Thrones fans might get déjà vu watching Lively in The Rhythm Section and for good reason. The 2020 film shot in many of the same locations as the HBO series.
“Ireland, Madrid, Spain, Cádiz … basically anywhere they shoot Game of Thrones is where we shot this movie,” Lively said before adding The Rhythm Section had many crew members from the TV program. The actress embraced the Game of Thrones connection, revealing she’d “blast the Game of Thrones main titles” while driving through Ireland.
