When the coming-of-age film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” was launched in 2005, it rapidly grew to become a favourite amongst younger audiences due to its considerate perspective on teenage points and an impeccably solid ensemble of newcomers (Blake Lively in her first position and America Ferrera coming off of “Actual Girls Have Curves) and rising TV stars (Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel). Within the years since, the film’s cult has solely grown, and when “Sisterhood” screened on the American Cinematheque‘s Aero Theatre final week in honor of its twentieth anniversary, the theater was filled with devoted followers.
Director Ken Kwapis, actor Jenna Boyd, producer Christine Sacani, and government producer Kira Davis participated in a post-screening Q&A and talked in regards to the movie’s making and legacy. Kwapis admitted that when he was first approached about directing “Sisterhood,” it didn’t sound like a promising job. “I used to be despatched the script by Warner Bros. with a one-line description,” he stated. “‘This can be a story about 4 ladies who share a pair of pants.’ And I assumed, ‘Okay, that is what my profession has come to.’”
When Kwapis learn the guide, nevertheless, he was “knocked out” by its emotional vary and noticed a approach to make a movie within the custom of one among his all-time favorites. “I keep in mind my preliminary pitch assembly with Warner Bros.,” Kwapis stated. “I stated, ‘I’m not a teenage woman, however I really feel linked to every of the 4 characters in a deep means.’ I in contrast ‘Sisterhood’ to a movie that’s crucial to me, ‘American Graffiti.’”
Kwapis noticed similarities between the best way every story adopted 4 buddies (teenage boys in “Graffiti,” ladies in “Sisterhood”) and of their buildings, the place more often than not the buddies had been seen in separate storylines. He additionally thought that, like “American Graffiti,” “Sisterhood of the Touring Pants” may give youngsters a film that handled their issues significantly and empathetically, with out sacrificing wholesome doses of comedy.
That tough tonal stability is exemplified in Boyd’s efficiency as a leukemia-stricken buddy of Tamblyn’s character, Tibby. Despite the potential for mawkishness, the storyline by no means loses its humorousness and doesn’t veer into extreme sentiment, one thing Boyd stated got here from Kwapis’ course. “Ken would always inform me to dial it again,” she stated. “I all the time felt somewhat self-conscious that it wouldn’t be sufficient, however he was capable of see {that a} extra subdued efficiency could be extra highly effective.”
Boyd additionally credited the script by Elizabeth Chandler and Delia Ephron with doing among the heavy lifting when it got here to the movie’s emotional results. “The writing was an enormous reward,” she stated. “The phrases on the web page had been so highly effective that I felt like my job was made fairly a bit simpler. How will you say that stuff with out it being touching and endearing?”
In accordance with Kwapis, casting the 4 leads was largely an intuitive course of the place it rapidly grew to become obvious who was proper for the film — regardless that, within the case of Full of life, her resume was utterly clean when the director turned over her headshot to see what she had completed. “Blake had by no means held a paying job in her life earlier than this movie,” Kwapis stated. The large problem for the director was taking these 4 actors who had by no means met and wouldn’t have a lot rehearsal time and making them convincing on display as lifelong buddies.
“I created workouts for them, one among which was to ship them out procuring in character,” Kwapis stated. “We gave every actor 100 {dollars}, and their job was to go to a thrift retailer and buy one thing in character and advise the others. They spent a number of hours collectively and developed a shorthand, and I felt that was extra precious than making an attempt to learn scenes collectively.”
One factor that stands out about “Sisterhood” 20 years after its launch is how a lot scale it has — the movie traverses a number of nations and has a visible fashion (courtesy of “Mishima” and “American Gigolo” cinematographer John Bailey, a frequent Kwapis collaborator) that serves Kwapis’ intention to deal with his younger folks with the identical diploma of filmmaking prowess that will be utilized to extra grownup material. Sacani stated that from a manufacturing standpoint, the globetrotting posed quite a few challenges, as did the scheduling calls for of a movie juggling 4 protagonists of equal significance.
“Blake Full of life was nonetheless in highschool, and I keep in mind having to push the beginning of the shoot for a cheerleading competitors,” Sacani stated. “We began in Greece after which went to Vancouver, which was the primary location, after which we led to Mexico.” Manufacturing designer Gae Buckley employed full artwork departments in every local people, which Sacani felt gave every part its personal distinct and genuine look — she additionally stated that the very fact the manufacturing may solely afford to convey a small group of division heads to every nation meant the core crew of “Sisterhood” fashioned an unusually intense bond.
An analogous bond developed between Boyd and Tamblyn, with whom Boyd performed most of her scenes. “I keep in mind her not treating me like a child in any respect,” Boyd, who was 12 on the time of the shoot, stated. “She simply jumped within the deep finish with me, and I felt very grown-up.” Boyd added that her friendship with Tamblyn intensified once they shot the documentary that’s seen in items all through the movie. “We truly did movie a documentary. We went out and interviewed folks and put it on movie, and that actually solidified our dynamic.”
When it got here to releasing and advertising and marketing “The Sisterhood of the Touring Pants,” Davis stated that the studio leaned into the film’s strengths. “ The elemental idea of friendship was common, and that was actually the bottom of it,” she stated. “I feel the explanation why it’s had this endurance for thus lengthy. It’s not a film that’s typical for younger ladies; it has some tragedy in it. Coping with lack of virginity, suicide…it was uncommon in that point, and it wasn’t a fluff film. However I feel the substance and Ken’s nuanced work with the ladies and their expertise actually offered the film.”
On Kwapis and Sacani’s IMDb pages, a 3rd “Sisterhood” film is listed as a future venture. (“The Sisterhood of the Touring Pants 2” was launched in 2008 and directed by Sanaa Hamri.) Kwapis confirmed that he’s hoping to make it, although he stated determining the story has been tough for one apparent cause. “The 4 actors are actually a lot older than the characters within the ultimate guide of Ann Brashere’s sequence,” Kwapis stated. “So it’s been an actual problem to determine a narrative that actually works for these characters of their mid-to-late thirties whereas nonetheless making an attempt to honor what Anne created. I might say it’s somewhat bit on pause, however nobody’s giving up. I’m hopeful.”
“The Sisterhood of the Touring Pants” is now streaming on all digital platforms.
