Spoiler Alert: For those who haven’t read the book, this piece spoils the plot of It Ends With Us.

Seven years after his Ted Talk about toxic masculinity, Jane the Virgin star and Five Feet Apart director Justin Baldoni combined directing and acting for the highly anticipated film adaptation of It Ends With Us, in which he stars as the abusive neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid.

Based on Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel, the story centers on Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) who first encounters Ryle in a close-up rooftop moment before meeting him again later after she opens her Boston flower shop. Ryle foregoes his no strings attached relationship style to pursue Lily and eventually marry her, though she starts to experience violence at his hands before and after the wedding.

“I was very nervous to play [Ryle]. My north star with Ryle was always to look for his humanity because it...