Lively filed a civil complaint against co-star and director Justin Baldoni shortly before Christmas, accusing him of sexual harassment during the filming of It Ends with Us – a romantic drama released last year. Baldoni denies the claims…

The film footage at the centre of Blake Lively’s high-profile legal row proves that intimacy coordination should be considered as necessary on set as organising stunts, leading consultants have said.

His legal team retaliated by releasing a video of the pair going through three takes of one scene in which the pair slow-dance in a bar, which is alleged by Lively in her lawsuit to be an example of his inappropriate behaviour.

But while his lawyers claim the video exonerates him, Lively’s team said it further proved she felt uncomfortable in scenes that she said had not been choreographed.

Intimacy coordinators say the myriad allegations and counter-allegations show the importance of having a professional on set to mediate intense scenes with complicated power dynamics.

Dancing can absolutely be intimate, and having an intimacy coordinator on set should be a given,” Ita O’Brien, who pioneered the role, told the Guardian.

She added: “In the past, some people would go, ‘I do my own stunts. I don’t need a stunt coordinator’. Whereas today, if there’s a stunt or a fight, you have a stunt coordinator there to offer their skills. It should now be the same with intimacy coordinators.”

The video depicted Lively and Baldoni discussing how they spend time with their spouses and joking about the size of Baldoni’s nose. Baldoni’s team say it provides context to Lively’s allegation that Baldoni told her she smelt good, showing the comment to be in response to Lively talking about her spray tan.

But Lively’s legal team called the video “damning” and said it showed Baldoni repeatedly “attempting to kiss” her, “rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her … and talking with her out of character”.

They alleged every moment was improvised by Baldoni “with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present”.

On Thursday, Mia Schachter, an intimacy coordinator on Apple TV+’s Lessons in Chemistry and HBO’s Insecure, told the Hollywood Reporter she could see Lively trying to “appease” Baldoni and “keep a smile on her face”.

Arielle Zadok, an intimacy coordinator and sex educator, claimed it was clear the actors were “negotiating the scene in real time”, when an intimacy coordinator would have handled everything in advance.