'It Ends With Us’' Justin Baldoni Told Me His Favorite Easter Egg In The Movie While Explaining The Role Finding Nemo Played In The Film

Interview with Justin Baldoni

Transcript

00:00I have so much respect for the book and for the fans who made this even possible

00:07that I just wanted to find a way to just sprinkle in as many little things as we possibly can.

00:13Okay, so the first time that Lily meets up with Atlas again,

00:17when they get reunited at the restaurant, they go and have a conversation by the bathroom.

00:23And there's a poster that is strategically placed in the frame

00:28that isn't the exact line of the movie as it relates to the Finding Nemo reference,

00:36but it's very similar and very close because we didn't want it to be on the nose.

00:40And it's just strategically placed in the background for the super fans who loved that story

00:46because I knew how much Just Keep Swimming meant to so many people,

00:51how much it means to me.

00:52It's amazing life advice.

00:55And yet that was a part of the book we couldn't put in the movie.

00:59So I just wanted to like pepper it in wherever I could.

01:01And I just thought that was a really, like it was like the most perfect moment for that.

01:05And our production designer, Russell Barnes,

01:09found a way to print it out and turn it into a kind of a piece of art

01:14that I don't think everyone will notice,

01:16but I do believe that the diehard book fans will notice and hopefully appreciate it.

01:20There were a couple of things in the restaurant that were like callbacks to Atlas and Lily's

01:25young relationship, like the Finding Dory picture on the wall in the bathroom scene.

01:30I wasn't expecting those little things.

01:32And so there were a lot of things that didn't make it into the film from the book.

01:37And so just seeing those tiny little touches that were like little shout outs to those things

01:41that didn't make it really meant a lot to me.

01:43So getting to walk around the restaurant and just find all those hidden little treasures was fun.