It Ends With Us was actually the start of something for Justin Baldoni’s kids.
The Jane The Virgin alum—who directed and starred alongside Blake Lively in the Colleen Hoover adaptation—recently shared how he incorporated his and wife Emily’s daughter Maiya, 9, and son Maxwell, 7, into the film.
“They’re in the final scene in the farmer's market,” Justin shared in an exclusive E! News interview. “There are two kids that are running into the farmer's market and that was their kind of debut—I said, ‘Action,’ and then they ran off. And they tell all their friends about it. I think that's the extent to which they want to be in the industry.”
And while Justin—who wed wife Emily in 2013—noted that his daughter is a “natural director,” while his son is a “natural performer,” he emphasized that he doesn’t imagine following in his footsteps is necessarily their calling—nor does he want it to be.
“Neither one of them have ever said that they want to be actors,” he added. “They just want to act in Daddy's movie so they can tell their friends they were in movies.”
But if Maiya or Maxwell do ever want to pursue careers in entertainment, Justin highlighted that when it comes to his kids’ futures, he tries to be “detached,” toward any tangible prospect, because he just wants them to be happy.
As he put it, “They're both so smart, they're so much smarter than I ever was and so creative.”
Still, Justin—who is also the cofounder of Wayfarer Production studios—noted that he does want to pass along the message of his work to his kids, as he pursues projects, which have included 2019’s Five Feet Apart, It Ends With Us as well as Will Ferrell’s recent documentary Will & Harper, that will be “helpful and contribute to a larger conversation.”
In fact, the 40-year-old’s latest project does just that. He is currently partnering with Purina Dog Chow’s “Service Dog Salute”—a category of the New York Dog Film Festival which premiered Oct. 23— that sheds light on how a service dog can really support veterans who suffer from PTSD.
“I spent a lot of my life working in the masculinity space, working with men and advocating for, destigmatizing mental health,” the Man Enough podcast host detailed. “One of the things that isn't talked about nearly enough is PTSD. In general, when we see it in films, we see, oftentimes, the bad depiction of what PTSD looks like. We also assume that maybe medication is the only option.”
The film festival category not only spreads awareness, but raises funds to give dogs the essential training needed to support veterans.
“I’m very grateful that I can be of service with my work,” Justin shared. “Grateful that I can be a part of promoting an organization that is really making a difference in the lives of veterans.”
Overall, the filmmaker is always looking to create and support movies that “need to happen.”
“I genuinely love what I do and I love making movies and being of service in the way that I am,” he said. “I don't want people talking about the projects. I want people talking about the impact that it had on their lives."