It’s been 20 years since The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was released.

The friendships among stars Carmen (America Ferrera), Lena (Alexis Bledel), Bridget (Blake Lively), and Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) have remained strong even after two decades.

Now, the film’s director Ken Kwapis, 67, is sharing his insights into Blake’s first film at age 16.

‘It’s hard to imagine anyone else other than Blake Lively as Bridget, even though it was her first acting job,’ Kwapis reflected to People. 

‘I mean, she was 16 when she came in to audition and yet she won it in the room. She had such a sort of intuitive connection to this character.’ 

He came up with a unique approach to help the four young actresses bond swiftly, given that they needed to shoot scenes from both the start and the end of the film immediately, without much time to develop their connection naturally.

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It’s been 20 years since The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was released. Blake Lively, Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn and America Ferrera seen here in 2005

‘The challenge was that the four actors had never met before this film, and the characters don’t have a lot of scenes together.  

‘Basically the four of them are in scenes at the beginning and the end. They bookend the film,’ Kwapis noted.

‘So the challenge for me in pre-production was how to take these four actors toward each other and turn them into lifelong friends quickly. 

‘And so one of the things I tried to do is create certain exercises that would help the four of them bond. I mentioned this one in my book, that I sent the four actors off to a thrift store with, I don’t know, $75 or $100 apiece with the instructions to buy something in character and to also advise the others in character as well.’

The License to Wed director said that the exercise was ‘an interesting way to rehearse without actually rehearsing a scene.’

‘It was an exercise that gave them a chance to create a shorthand that they were able to use to, again, create that sense that these were friends from birth.’

And it worked! The young women developed a bond and remain friends to this day.

‘It’s so amazing and it’s particularly rare in show business. I think that in show business people have intense relationships for a short time and then go their separate ways,’ Kwapis said.

The friendships between its stars Carmen ( America Ferrera ), Lena (Alexis Bledel), Bridget ( Blake Lively ) and Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) are going strong two decades later. Blake seen here in 2004

Now, the film’s director Ken Kwapis, 67, is sharing his insights into Blake’s first film at age 16

‘It’s hard to imagine anyone else other than Blake Lively as Bridget, even though it was her first acting job,’ Kwapis reflected to People

‘I mean, she was 16 when she came in to audition and yet she won it in the room. She had such a sort of intuitive connection to this character.’ Ken Kwapis seen here in 2015

‘But in this case, these four actors came together, played four best friends and then have remained best friends. So actually, it’s rare and wonderful,” Kwapis says.

The seasoned director has also kept in touch with the ladies.

‘I’m definitely in touch with the others now and then and, again, I feel like it’s been wonderful to become friends with all of them and I hope to work with them again,’ he said.

Blake’s co-stars also came to her support in the ongoing legal battle with her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni. 

In a joint Instagram post, Tamblyn and Ferrera released a statement signed by all three of them, including Bledel, who is not active on Instagram.

‘In support of our sister, Blake,’ they wrote in the caption and signed off with a red heart emoji and their first names.

‘As Blake’s friends and sisters for over twenty years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation,’ the trio’s statement read.

‘Throughout the filming of It Ends With Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set,’ they stated.

He devised a way for the four young stars to bond quickly as they had to film scenes from the beginning and end of the movie right away and didn’t have a lot of time to bond normally. Blake seen here in 2005

‘The challenge was that the four actors had never met before this film, and the characters don’t have a lot of scenes together. The four of them are in scenes at the beginning and the end. They bookend the film,’ Kwapis noted. Blake seen here in 2025

‘And we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice,’ they continued.

The three actresses also condemned Baldoni’s alleged attempt to ‘bury’ Lively — as he and his team reportedly stated in a private message that was made public in the court documents — under the guise of having good intentions and trying to shed light on domestic violence, the pivotal message of It Ends With Us.

‘Most upsetting is the unabashed exploitation of domestic violence survivors’ stories to silence a woman who asked for safety,’ Lively’s Sisterhood costars wrote. ‘The hypocrisy is astounding.’

‘We are struck by the reality that even if a woman is as strong, celebrated, and resourced as our friend Blake, she can face forceful retaliation for daring to ask for a safe working environment. We are inspired by our sister’s courage to stand up her herself and others,’ the statement continued.

‘For anyone seeking more information or engaging in this important conversation online, please read the full legal complaint in the investigative reporting by Megan Twohey, Mike McIntire, and Julie Tate for the New York Times.

Ferrera, Tamblyn and Bledel tagged Lively in their post.

Additionally, Ferrera and Tamblyn shared the post on their Instagram Stories alongside the link to the New York Times article about the lawsuit Lively filed on Friday.

‘I was a confidant for my sister Blake while she went through some of this experience,’ Tamblyn wrote alongside her Instagram Stories post.