Blake Lively’s Long, Red Curls Are For A Role, But She Should Keep Them Forever

Blake Lively’s endlessly versatile hair numbers among her best features, that much is already established. She’s taken her (usually) long, blonde waves through all kinds of changes for roles before, but no early-production film stills are riling up fans like the very first look at It Ends With Us. The hotly-anticipated screen adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s beloved novel shows Blake Lively’s red, curly hair — her new look crucial for her portrayal of protagonist Lily Bloom. Just spotted filming scenes from the movie in New York, fans of the book are are — as predicted — already weighing in.

In the photos from set, Lively is seen with tight, elbow-length waves, a brown maxi dress, and an oversized Valentino logo bag. The beachy texture and volume look pretty similar to Lively’s day-to-day look, but it’s impossible to presently guess whether she’s wearing a wig or not. Early internet opinions on the look range in levels of support, with many praising Lively’s casting, on-screen wardrobe, and exciting new hair color. Of course, there’s plenty of naysayers camped out in the comment sections, too. “This isn’t giving me the vibes I hoped it would,” one Hoover fan remarked, a sentiment many agreed with.

For the unfamiliar, Lively’s character is a just-graduated 22-year-old wrestling with family issues, a burgeoning love triangle, and the opportunity to break the cycle of abuse. It Ends With Us was first published in 2016, quickly optioned for film rights just a few years later. Hoover called Lively her “dream Lily” when casting was announced back in January.

While Lively’s on-screen transformation is undoubtedly stunning, it’s old hat for her at this point. She’s dyed her hair red a few times in the past, the copper-toned coloring looking so natural on the star.

Regardless of where you stand on the this-will-be-great vs. this-will-surely-flop spectrum presently, Lively’s versatility and established filmography deserves more than a cursory judgement on a handful of photos. Frankly, she could just brush her lush red curls in silence for two hours and it would pack theaters — with good reason, too.