“It Ends With Us” features quite a few familiar faces, between Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate and more, but it also introduces a new actress — one who bears a deeply uncanny resemblance to Lively herself.
Adapted from Colleen Hoover’s book of the same name, “It Ends With Us” tells the story of Lily Bloom, a florist who’s just opened her own flower shop in Boston. When she meets handsome neurosurgeon Ryle (Justin Baldoni) after her father’s funeral, she quickly finds herself falling for him, but only slowly realizes that he’s abusive.
It’s a particularly difficult and frightening situation for Lily, as her own mother was abused by her father, but chose to stay with him. Lily swore to herself she’d never let anyone hurt her or the people she loved as a result. Throughout the film, we see flashbacks to Lily’s adolescence.
And so we meet Isabela Ferrer, who plays a younger version of Lively. And yes, that’s actually Ferrer’s own speaking voice, not just her lip-syncing to recordings of Lively. It’s near impossible to tell the difference though, especially with a visual resemblance to Lively as well.
If you’re struggling to place how you know her, don’t worry. The reality is, you really kind of don’t! She’s a newcomer in Hollywood, with “It Ends With Us” marking her first major role. (Though, she did star in one episode of “Evil”).
The actress earned her BFA from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and
graduated from LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts with a major in Drama. LaGuardia is, of course, known for having many famous alumni, including Jennifer Aniston, Timothée Chalamet, Sarah Michelle Gellar and more.
Ferrer submitted herself as part of an open call on social media, and according to director and star Justin Baldoni, her tape got “an instant approval” from Lively herself.
And, as it turns out, Ferrer had another very famous guardian angel that also helped her land “It Ends With Us”: Taylor Swift.
“She was a helpful part of the process of the audition, which I found out later after I got it,” Ferrer told Extra at the film’s premiere. “And that rocked my world.”
“My favorite part has been playing a character who is so truly herself,” Ferrer said in a statement ahead of the film. “Lily is shy and certainly an introvert in a lot of ways, but she also has a lot of strength from the start. Being able to play a teenager who already has that in them, and then to see that person grow into someone played by Blake Lively, is such a privilege.”
“It Ends With Us” is now in theaters everywhere.
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Tess Patton contributed to this report.
