Blake Lively‘s journey to starring in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a tale of chance, determination, and unexpected turns, tracing her path from a high school student with non-Hollywood dreams to a cherished member of a film phenomenon. Released on June 1, 2005, the movie about four friends unified by magical jeans remains an enduring favorite, with both the story and its cast continuing to capture hearts nearly two decades later.
The Origins of Magical Denim
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, adapted from Ann Brashares’ bestselling novel, grew out of a universal theme—finding belonging and support during pivotal moments in young women’s lives. Brashares described the pants’ symbolism:
“I think pants have unique qualities, especially in a woman’s life,”
she told BookBrowse, explaining the inspiration came from her own experiences and a colleague’s tale of sharing jeans one summer.
“Whatever bodily insecurities we have, we seem to take out on our pants. In high school, my friends would have their skinny pants and their fat pants. I like pants that allow women not to judge their bodies. The Traveling Pants are the kind of pants that always love you.”
That universal comfort turned the pants into a cinematic anchor, connecting characters Carmen, Lena, Bridget, and Tibby—even as their lives diverged over summer vacation.
Brashares’ initial concept was sparked by a story she heard while working as an editor:
“She told me the pants had sadly been lost in Borneo,”
said Brashares,
“My mind was immediately filled with all sorts of wonderful possibilities.”
Crafting the Screenplay
After Brashares’ novel hit shelves in 2001, producer Debra Martin Chase spearheaded the film adaptation. Warner Bros.’ Kevin McCormick recommended Delia Ephron, a veteran screenwriter, to pen the script. Chase and Ephron spent a week collaborating in Beverly Hills, after which Ephron completed the first draft in New York. The results were immediate:
“Her first draft comes in, and it’s great,”
Chase recalled on the Hollywood Gold podcast,
“and all of a sudden we have a blinking green light.”
Expert Touches Behind the Scenes
The process leaned on advice from romantic comedy mainstays. Delia Ephron, though established in her own right, sought counsel from her sister Nora Ephron, the acclaimed creator of When Harry Met Sally, ensuring that the script balanced humor and emotional authenticity.
Pivotal Choices in Directing
Initial plans for direction included Helen Hunt, fresh from both acting and directing hits. Eventually, Ken Kwapis’ vision won over the production team. Chase described being inspired by his comparisons to the nostalgically resonant American Graffiti:
“He talked about how American Graffiti was the defining movie of his life, as a person, as a man, and had inspired him to be a filmmaker,”
she shared.
“He talked about the ways in which Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants could parallel American Graffiti, and I was like, ‘OK, he’s in my head, he gets this movie, I’m done.’”
Focusing on Real Emotion
Kwapis admitted his initial disconnect with the film’s focus:
“I opened my pitch by announcing, ‘I am not a teenage girl,’”
he wrote in his memoir, acknowledging that his strength was not lived experience but the ability to convey genuine emotion through story. He explained,
“Giving Bridget’s story a broader emotional context convinced my listeners that having ‘teen cred’ was not as important as knowing how to put truthful human behavior on the screen.”
Assembling the Cast—A Test of Patience
The casting journey for The Sisterhood was anything but straightforward. America Ferrera secured the role of Carmen early in 2003. Other choices, like Alexis Bledel (initially passing on Lena before returning), Kristin Kreuk, and Mischa Barton, ebbed and flowed due to schedule conflicts and shifting priorities. Tamblyn, then starring on Joan of Arcadia, eventually took on Tibby. The lead roles of Lena and Bridget required further searching as Smallville and The O.C. became cultural sensations, pulling originally intended cast members out of consideration.
During auditions, the producers met a wide array of young actresses—
“including Kaley Cuoco, Alexis PenaVega, Missy Peregrym and Olivia Wilde,”
Chase noted. For Bridget’s part, their requirements were exacting:
“The actress who played Bridget had to be gorgeous, but in a pure way. You have to believe she was a virgin, she wasn’t caught up in her looks. And she had to be able to act! Her mother dies, that role had a lot of depth. We literally had seen everybody who was possibly right. And we told the casting director, ‘You’ve got to go back out there, we haven’t found her.’”
How Blake Lively Got the Role
At just 15, Blake Lively entered the scene, bringing with her a blank headshot—evidence, as Chase recalled, of her complete lack of acting experience. Still, there was a spark. Although the studio expressed doubts given her age and green résumé, Lively was called back for a final audition alongside Olivia Wilde and Missy Peregrym.
“We brought in Olivia Wilde, Missy Peregrym and Blake in the final audition,”
explained Chase. The role, however, was destined for Blake.
An Unexpected Detour from Stanford to Stardom
Lively’s plans had originally not included Hollywood. She told MTV News in 2005 that she had always intended to attend Stanford, but landing the role of Bridget changed everything:
“kind of just took my life on a different detour.”
Sisterhood was “an amazing first job,” she reflected in a conversation with Ben Affleck for Interview in 2010.
“And all I had to do was miss finals at school? So I thought, ‘Well, this is great. I’ll just try out acting and see if I like it.’ I missed my finals, I was away shooting for the summer, and I came back home. But rather than pursue acting, I decided that I wanted to finish out my senior year. I thought I’ll finish high school and then I’ll hold off going to college for a year and just try it. But here I am still acting. Things worked out all right.”
Further Steps in Casting: Bringing Kostos to Life
The search for Kostos, Lena’s enchanting love interest, had its own set of twists. Chase thought she had found her leading man—someone who “looked like a prince”—but lost him to the rigorous pursuit of an arts education. “We were devastated,” said Chase, describing how the casting team turned to a process she jokingly called “Santorini Idol,” before ultimately selecting Michael Rady. “Just a lovely human being,” she noted, highlighting his lasting connection with those involved in the film.
The Director’s Side Gig and Setting the Tone
Ken Kwapis maximized every minute of the year-long delay in production, directing the pilot for The Office U.S. and the formative episode “Diversity Day” during the wait. Just as filming on Sisterhood was set to begin, Chase recalled,
“the night before we start shooting Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, he gets a call that they’ve been picked up for series.”
Kwapis managed a seamless transition, guiding the cast and crew through filming in Santorini and ultimately setting a warm, supportive tone.
Engineering On-Screen Friendship
Since Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera, and Amber Tamblyn hadn’t met before filming, Kwapis designed bonding exercises to help the actresses develop genuine chemistry. He explained his approach:
“One was, I gave each of the four actors $75, and I instructed them to go to a thrift store in Vancouver where we were shooting, and their job was to buy something in character and to advise the others about what they should buy in character.”
According to the director, it was a pivotal experience:
“I didn’t go with them, but the four actors came back and they reported that it was a remarkable bonding experience for them, during which they developed a kind of great shorthand that they used in their few scenes together.”
Movie Magic and the Jeans’ True Origin
The jeans themselves became a character—crafted from a collection of vintage Levi’s, each set was tailored for the specific actress wearing them in any given scene. These legendary pants now reside in the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives. Director Kwapis revealed his approach to the central “magic jeans” scene:
“I tried to stage it to make it look as natural as possible,”
he told Entertainment Weekly.
“Blake has the pants, she takes them off and hands them to America, and there’s nothing obviously magical going on. There’s nothing that’s going to signal that a magical event is happening. America just puts them on and they fit. There was a little movie magic going on, obviously, a little bit of sleight of hand, but there was no fancy VFX. It was kind of an old school trickery, and I’m very proud of that scene.”
Creating the World of the Sisterhood
While Bridget’s soccer camp appeared to be in sunny Mexico, the campers actually kicked goals in Kamloops, British Columbia, with the picturesque waterfront created via CGI. The cast also spent time in Cabo San Lucas for exterior scenes. Every detail, from set construction to digital landscapes, contributed to the vivid world, bringing each character’s journey to life.
From Page to Screen—A Collaborative Spirit
Brashares herself wasn’t officially involved in the film’s production but appreciated the outreach from Kwapis and the team. She recalled how the filmmakers were
“very welcoming and sweetly solicitous of my opinion, although they were no way bound to take it.”
The result was gratifying:
“It ended up being a very happy experience. I enjoyed being involved in the publicity and the promotion efforts, which I was happy to do because I really did enjoy the movie; I think they did a great job.”
She also marveled at the production challenges:
“You make these little, arbitrary decisions as a writer, and you actually see them try to do it on the screen and oh, how expensive and labor intensive every single thing is. It’s a lot easier to write.”
The Enduring Appeal of the Sisterhood
The films became cultural touchstones not just for fans but for the actresses themselves, whose real-life friendships mirrored their on-screen bonds. Amber Tamblyn explained why the movies resonated so well:
“I think sometimes those tween girl films are not very great, they’re not very sincere.”
SOTTP managed the rare feat of sincerity:
“I think people really love that, this idea that you can—much like women have such deep, complicated relationships with their girlfriends, that the four of us really have that in real life, and that it is kind of this strange sisterhood.”
Tamblyn emphasized their differences as a strength:
“Some of us have nothing in common. Like, Blake is a guru of Louboutin shoes. She can figure out how to put an outfit together in two seconds. She’s so immaculate and good at doing that, and I am utterly clueless. I will send her texts of pictures of outfits and be like, ‘Should I wear this?’ She’s like, ‘No, please don’t wear that. Don’t wear cowboy boots with that, we’re not doing that today.’ But the fact that we love each other and we’re so close, I think it’s what people really bond with about the film.”
A Special Kind of Set Experience
Behind the scenes, there was little drama—only collaboration and enduring camaraderie. As Lively recalled in a February 2024 appearance on Tamblyn’s Substack video series Further Ado:
“When I did Sisterhood, I had the greatest experience anyone can ever imagine. In an industry that often pits women against each other, [we] defied the rules.”
The stars continued to celebrate each other’s milestones. When America Ferrera earned an Oscar nomination for Barbie, she recounted,
“They FaceTimed me as a group right away.”
Ferrera described the warmth and humor of their continued support:
“It was hilarious and funny and emotional, and it’s wonderful to be celebrated and held up by my sisters.”
She added,
“These women who I’ve had the honor of growing up with in this industry and being loved and cheered on and supported by them. Which we all do for each other. They’re amazing, and such a gift in my life.”
Their unity was never just for show—it’s a pillar of their lives years later.
Together, the actresses have navigated the ever-busy terrain of show business and family—eight children between them now complicate any plans for a third film, as Ferrera once joked:
“We would love to get paid to hang out with each other.”
The logistics may be challenging, a reality Amber Tamblyn acknowledged: Family and life make it tough to reunite for a new sequel, yet the bonds remain unbroken.
Personal Milestones and Firsts
The cast’s connection extended beyond the screen. Although rumors that Lively’s SOTTP co-stars were her daughter James’ godmothers proved false, they have marked many important firsts together. Tamblyn was present when Lively auditioned for Bridget, and Lively in turn was there for Tamblyn,
“the first person (after my husband) to hold my daughter in the hospital after she was born.”
Tamblyn expressed her gratitude for their enduring relationship, stating:
“Blake is an ever-curious, playful, joyful soul, and I’m thrilled people will get to experience the depths of a friendship that we have cultivated and nourished for more than two decades.”
The Legacy—And the Possibility of More
Discussions of a third Sisterhood movie have faded but not disappeared altogether. Debra Martin Chase expressed continued interest in 2024, and Ken Kwapis maintained hope for another installment on the series’ 20th anniversary. Meanwhile, Brashares, reflecting on the most recent book, Sisterhood Everlasting, hinted at the characters’ futures:
“There’s a sense that they were really laying down roots. And they’re finding out ways to lay down roots and have them intertwine in each other’s lives. So they’re starting to set up families, and make a second generation of little ones. I see that continuing. I think I set a lot of that in motion at the end of that last book.”
Blake Lively’s journey to starring in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants continues to inspire, reminding fans of the magic that happens when authentic friendships and a touch of serendipity come together. The story’s legacy, and Lively’s role within it, demonstrates the power of taking chances, nurturing bonds, and embracing the unexpected twists that can lead to stardom and enduring sisterhood.
