When the coming-of-age movie “The Sisterhood of the Touring Pants” was launched in 2005, it shortly turned a favourite amongst younger audiences due to its considerate perspective on teenage points and an impeccably solid ensemble of newcomers (Blake Full of life in her first position and America Ferrera coming off of “Actual Ladies 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 full of 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 concerning 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 mentioned. “‘It is a story about 4 women who share a pair of pants.’ And I assumed, ‘Okay, that is what my profession has come to.’”
When Kwapis learn the e-book, nevertheless, he was “knocked out” by its emotional vary and noticed a strategy to make a movie within the custom of certainly one of his all-time favorites. “I bear in mind my preliminary pitch assembly with Warner Bros.,” Kwapis mentioned. “I mentioned, ‘I’m not a teenage lady, however I really feel related to every of the 4 characters in a deep approach.’ I in contrast ‘Sisterhood’ to a movie that’s essential to me, ‘American Graffiti.’”
Kwapis noticed similarities between the best way every story adopted 4 pals (teenage boys in “Graffiti,” women in “Sisterhood”) and of their constructions, the place more often than not the buddies have been seen in separate storylines. He additionally thought that, like “American Graffiti,” “Sisterhood of the Touring Pants” might give youngsters a film that handled their issues critically and empathetically, with out sacrificing wholesome doses of comedy.
That tough tonal steadiness is exemplified in Boyd’s efficiency as a leukemia-stricken pal of Tamblyn’s character, Tibby. Regardless of the potential for mawkishness, the storyline by no means loses its humorousness and doesn’t veer into extreme sentiment, one thing Boyd mentioned got here from Kwapis’ route. “Ken would continuously inform me to dial it again,” she mentioned. “I at all times felt a bit of 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 a few of the heavy lifting when it got here to the movie’s emotional results. “The writing was an enormous reward,” she mentioned. “The phrases on the web page have been so highly effective that I felt like my job was made fairly a bit simpler. How are you going to say that stuff with out it being touching and endearing?”
Based on Kwapis, casting the 4 leads was largely an intuitive course of the place it shortly turned 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 achieved. “Blake had by no means held a paying job in her life earlier than this movie,” Kwapis mentioned. 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 pals.
“I created workouts for them, certainly one of which was to ship them out purchasing in character,” Kwapis mentioned. “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 worthwhile 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 international locations and has a visible model (courtesy of “Mishima” and “American Gigolo” cinematographer John Bailey, a frequent Kwapis collaborator) that serves Kwapis’ intention to deal with his younger individuals with the identical diploma of filmmaking prowess that may be utilized to extra grownup subject material. Sacani mentioned 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 bear in mind having to push the beginning of the shoot for a cheerleading competitors,” Sacani mentioned. “We began in Greece after which went to Vancouver, which was the principle 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 mentioned that the very fact the manufacturing might solely afford to carry a small group of division heads to every nation meant the core crew of “Sisterhood” shaped an unusually intense bond.
An identical bond developed between Boyd and Tamblyn, with whom Boyd performed most of her scenes. “I bear in mind her not treating me like a child in any respect,” Boyd, who was 12 on the time of the shoot, mentioned. “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 individuals and put it on movie, and that basically solidified our dynamic.”
When it got here to releasing and advertising and marketing “The Sisterhood of the Touring Pants,” Davis mentioned 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 mentioned. “I feel the explanation why it’s had this endurance for therefore lengthy. It’s not a film that’s typical for younger women; 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 women and their expertise actually offered the film.”
On Kwapis and Sacani’s IMDb pages, a 3rd “Sisterhood” film is listed as a future undertaking. (“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 mentioned determining the story has been tough for one apparent purpose. “The 4 actors are actually a lot older than the characters within the ultimate e-book of Ann Brashere’s sequence,” Kwapis mentioned. “So it’s been an actual problem to determine a narrative that basically works for these characters of their mid-to-late thirties whereas nonetheless making an attempt to honor what Anne created. I’d say it’s a bit of bit on pause, however nobody’s giving up. I’m hopeful.”
“The Sisterhood of the Touring Pants” is now streaming on all digital platforms.