Oh my god, you are pushy.

Just once.

That's all I need to get you out of my system.

Oh that's it?

That'll do it?

Okay, well good luck with that.

Is that a yes?

Just once?

Just once.

Okay.

Okay.

I mean it was supposed to be just once now I'm thinking maybe twice that was that was 10 minutes and 36 seconds into the movie not that I was counting that was one of the best first kisses I've seen on a movie.

We've been talking to you all morning long.

Good morning.

Good to see you.

I'm so happy to be here.

You guys are such lights.

We love your film.

We love your work.

We love what you've done with this book.

It's sold 6 million copies, Colleen Hoover's book.

I've been in anticipation of you coming here.

I went on Reddit to see what people are saying about the book in anticipation of the film.

They love the book.

So there's millions of fans out there.

You are one of those fans.

You immediately bought this book right and you wanted to direct it.

Why?

Well I first optioned this book in 2019 and at the time it had sold just under a million copies.

And I had never read it.

Why didn't you read it?

I just started Wayfair Studios and at the time my book agent, shout out to Johanna Castillo, sent it to me.

And she said just read it because I was looking for movies that could be commercial and speak to the human experience.

Were you reading romance novels?

I had never read a romance novel.

And she said just trust me, read it.

So I read it and by the end of the book I couldn't even read the text on the page because I was crying so much.

My wife was in bed next to me and she had snot coming out of my nose.

And then I read the reason why Colleen wrote the movie.

It was for her mother who had a real life experience like this.

She was Lily Bloom.

And I just thought if this could affect me in this way, then I could only imagine what it could do for women and people who are in this situation all over the world.

Because all of us have a situation or a pattern that we need to end the cycle of.

How did it change your mindset, I guess, going into a movie like that that touches on domestic violence among other topics, don't want to give everything away, but how did that change you as an actor, as a director, in terms of how you see that issue in your role and speaking out about it?

You know, I think, it's a great question, I think as a man I'm always going to come with my own biases.

And it's one of the reasons I was afraid to direct this movie, let alone act in it.

And I wanted to make sure this film always had a female gaze, and I was never putting myself into it.

But one of the things that I think is very easy to say, especially for us men, is when we maybe talk to somebody who's in this situation, or we read a book, or we hear a news story, the question that's always asked is, why did she stay?

And that's the wrong question.

What we need to be asking ourselves is, why do men harm?

And that was the big thing for me.

And what I've learned more and more and more of is, these women who experience this every single day, there's real love there.

There's charm, there's charisma, there's passion, there's this belief that they can be better.

And it's not so simple.

So our friends at Know More, I'm wearing their pin right now, they were the ones who really worked with me to help me make this film as truthful as possible.

And hopefully do justice to all women who experience this.

Justin, I like the messaging.

Instead of asking, why did she stay, ask, why did they do that?

I think that's a much better lens to look at it.

But it's my understanding that you hadn't intended on casting yourself.

That Colleen Hoover said, you know, really, you should play this.

Now, I find that interesting.

What do you mean you didn't plan on casting yourself?

You read the role.

Yeah, you know, I had an assistant at the time.

And you still could have said, no, I'm not going to do it.

I had an assistant at the time who read the book, and she's like, you've got to play Ryle.

And after I read it, I think there was this part of me that wanted to.

I think we all have, you know, these big dreams.

We're like, oh, what a role that would be.

You know, that would be incredible.

But that little voice in our head is like, no, you can't do it.

You're not good enough.

And that was very loud for me.

And honestly, I was nervous.

This is a very complex, difficult role to play.

And Colleen had sent me a very short email just before we finished the option of her book.

And it was very simple.

It said, have you ever thought about acting in the movie?

Maybe Ryle.

I could see it.

And I think it was her belief in me that gave me the ability to dream and have the confidence to possibly pursue it.

And two years later after development is when I decided to take it on.

And the premiere was last night.

The premiere was last night.

How was it?

Oh, it was so beautiful.

It's like to work on something for so long and then to celebrate it with the people you love.

Yeah, I was just kind of speechless all night.

Can I ask you...

About Jane the Virgin?

It wasn't about Jane the Virgin.

I love you, Gail.

I love you.

We do love Jane the Virgin.

It's a great series.

But one of the things that I'm curious about is when I first, because I hadn't read the book.

And so when I started watching the movie, I was like, oh, it's a love story.

And I love great romantic films until it takes that turn.

And I thought, wow, I went into this thinking something completely different.

What do you want men to take?

I know women will love this because it's such a beautiful story.

And the book was a beautiful book, according to the people who've read it.

But what do you want men to take away from this film?

I want men...

First of all, I want men to stop asking the question, why do women stay?

Yeah.

I want men to take accountability.

I want men to hold other men accountable.

And in this particular film, I want men to go to the theater and in some way see a version of themselves.

You have two very different characters.

Both of them in Atlas and Ryle have had past trauma.

One handles it very different than the other.

And my other hope is that the men who have not done the work, who have not done the work to heal, if they see bits of themselves in Ryle, have a chance to step back and say, you know what, I don't want to blow up my life.

I don't want to hurt the person I love the most.

I need to get help.

I need to feel all these things that I've buried so deep down so that it doesn't explode on somebody that I love.

And hopefully that can create some compassion and empathy and make the world a safer place.

Justin Baldoni, thank you for being here.

We love this film.

We love Jane the Virgin, too.

And we love you.

Thanks so much for coming around.

Thank you so much.

And people have to see it on the big screen.

They really do.

Please go see it.

Please go see it.

It begins in theaters on Friday.