Blake Lively put in a good word for her It Ends With Us costar Brandon Sklenar when Paul Feig was assembling his cast for The Housemaid.

Director Feig, who worked with Lively on 2018’s A Simple Favor and its 2025 sequel Another Simple Favor, told E! News on Dec. 2, “Blake Lively had just worked with Brandon. She just kept going on and on about how great he is. And I met him and was like, ‘Yes, you are great and I love you.’ ”

In the psychological thriller The Housemaid, Sklenar, 35, plays Andrew Winchester, the seemingly perfect husband of Nina (Amanda Seyfried), who hires a live-in maid named Millie (Sydney Sweeney) before things spiral out of control in their household.

While on the Today show Dec. 4, Sklenar said Sweeney, 28, advocated for him to be hired for The Housemaid.

“I was surprised, honestly, that she did that. I was like, ‘Me? Really?’ Alright,” joked the 1923 star. “I was, you know, playing a cowboy a hundred years ago and I have never done a white-collar, contemporary man.”

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“But, yeah, I was honored and thrilled that she saw I could potentially do that, and the producers were on board and Paul Feig was on board,” said Sklenar. “I had lunch with Paul Feig, actually, and we just hit it off big time. … He’s just an exceptional human being.”

Earlier this year, Feig, 63, shared in an interview with Happy Sad Confused that Lively, 38, had suggested Sklenar for Housemaid.

“Blake had just worked with Brandon on It Ends With Us, and she was still in the middle of shooting all that stuff when we were doing Simple Favor, they [were] doing reshoots. And she was like, ‘I’m working with this guy and he’s so amazing. You’ve got to meet Brandon,’ ” he recalled.

“I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll have lunch with Brandon.’ He walks in, and within 30 seconds I’m like jelly,” said Feig. “The most charismatic guy you’ve ever met in your life and so talented.”

The Housemaid also stars Lively’s costar from Another Simple Favor, Michele Morrone, who appears as groundskeeper Enzo in the thriller.

Sklenar played Atlas, love interest to Lively’s Lily Bloom, in It Ends With Us, the romantic drama based on a Colleen Hoover novel that debuted in theaters in August 2024. After the film’s release, Lively sued director-costar Justin Baldoni and others alleging sexual harassment and retaliation, which he denies.

Feig spoke out in support of Lively in December 2024 after news of the lawsuit.

“I’ve now made two movies with Blake and all I can say is she’s one of the most professional, creative, collaborative, talented and kind people I’ve ever worked with,” he wrote on X at the time, adding. “She truly did not deserve any of this smear campaign against her. I think it’s awful she was put through this.”

That same month, Sklenar shared a link to a news report about Lively’s complaint and wrote on Instagram to his followers: “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ THIS.”

Sklenar previsously told The Hollywood Reporter of the Lively-Baldoni legal battle, “It’s a tough situation. I just hope everyone remembers what the movie is about and why we made it in the first place. It’s about love. It’s about supporting women in general and helping people through tough times.”

The Housemaid is in theaters Dec. 19.