If the pants fit, wear 'em.
That's more or less what the producers of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants are telling America Ferrera, who is reportedly not too happy about having to take time out this summer to shoot a sequel to the 2005 coming-of-age dramedy.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Alcon Entertainment is exercising the sequel option in Ferrera's contract and forcing her back to the negotiating table.
While the reviews weren't terrible for the first female-bonding flick based on author Ann Brashares' popular Summer of the Sisterhood series, the film only made $39 million at the box office, per Box Office Mojo, actually averaging less per screen than Ferrera's 2002 big-screen debut, the indie Real Women Have Curves.
Not to mention, Ferrera has come a long way since receiving third billing as Carmen, the most zaftig of the four friends who magically fit into the same jeans, coming after costars Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel, who along with Blake Lively are all in talks to return for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.
Earlier this year, Ferrera picked up a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for playing the not really very ugly Betty Suarez on the hit ABC series Ugly Betty, which has already been picked up for a second season and won best comedy series honors at the Globes, the NAACP Image Awards and the Satellite Awards earlier this year.
Ferrera, 23, is also said to be in talks to star in An Invisible Sign of My Own for Ugly Betty co-executive producer Salma Hayek's new Ventanazul production company at MGM.
All of which has apparently contributed to her lack of desire to zip up those old thrift shop jeans yet again. Filming for Sisterhood 2 is expected to start in June while Ugly Betty is on hiatus. The sequel is expected to follow the plotline of the fourth book in Brashares' series, Forever in Blue.
The Hollywood Reporter compared Ferrera's situation to Halle Berry's, when the actress was coming off an Oscar win for Monster's Ball and had reservations about reprising her role as Storm for X2: X-Men United. Little did anyone know, however, that Berry would then move on to do Catwoman and Gothika, and therefore be more than happy to suit up for X-Men 3: The Last Stand.
Before wearing the pants again, Bledel will wrap up the seventh (and possibly last) season of Gilmore Girls, Tamblyn will be waiting to hear whether CBS makes amends for canceling Joan of Arcadia by picking up the drama pilot Babylon Fields, and Lively will be prepping for her role in the new CW soap Gossip Girl, from The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz.