Even though one has directly been blamed for the downfall of the other, social media can often prove to be massively beneficial for a good old-fashioned paperback novel, something Colleen Hoover discovered when It Ends with Us became a viral sensation.
The book that finds a woman named Lilly beginning life after college before being plunged headlong into a twisting and turning series of events that upends her entire life has racked up over a billion tags on TikTok, and debuted at number one on The New York Times best-seller list on its way to shifting well over a million copies, as well as being translated into excess of 20 languages.
Needless to say, then, the expectations shot through the roof when the inevitable movie adaptation was announced, but the live-action version of It Ends with Us came under fire from fans of the source material for casting Blake Lively in the lead role, with the actress roughly a decade older than her counterpart on the printed page.
Speaking to Today at a recent book singing, Hoover addressed the controversies head-on, and in a surprising turn of events for any creative when talking about their own work, she held her hands up and took the blame.
“Back when I wrote It Ends With Us, the new adult (genre) was very popular. You were writing college-age characters. That’s what I was contracted to do. I made Lily very young. I didn’t now 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 out, because I messed up. So that’s my fault.”
It’s a minor issue to have if we’re being honest, but with the production currently on hold due to the ongoing writers’ strike, it could be a while before those with an affinity for It Ends with Us get to pass judgement on the end product.
