During an appearance on the People in the ’90s podcast, the actress recalled one of the most beloved scenes of the film—when she recites that poem—and how Ledger’s actions in that scene still stand out to her today.
Of course, his performance as rebel Patrick was equally applaudable.
“The title is based on a diary entry I made in high school,” she said in a sit-down with UCTV.
And every now and then I’ll get a random phone call in the middle of night: ‘My nephew doesn’t believe that this title is about me.
It’s impossible to picture this movie with anybody else in the lead roles, but ponder this for a minute: Larisa Oleynik, perhaps the biggest star of the bunch going in thanks to her Nickelodeon-fostered fame from The Secret World of Alex Mac, wanted to play Kat.
And at one point it might not have been Stiles—or Ledger—at all in the pivotal roles of Kat and Patrick.
“But Julia and Heath just had the best chemistry together,” casting director Marcia Ross recalled to The New York Times in 2019 for an oral history about the film.
High school still beckoned for Hartnett, who was the BMOC in The Virgin Suicides, and Dushku, whom we cheer to this day in Bring It On.
And no wonder Oleynik thought she was right for Kat.
“I knew that I wanted to go to school and I wanted to go for four years and in New York.
I thought that the writers had a healthy dose of cynicism with their humor that you don’t always find with teen romantic comedies.
“We had only heard stories from the producers about the disarming charisma of a handsome Aussie from Perth with an infectious smile,” David Krumholtz wrote in a piece for Vulture in 2015.
The Tacoma School District purchased the shell in 1904, local noted architect Frederick Heath finished the job and the school was open for learning in 1906.
“If I’m really honest, I didn’t want to do a high school romantic comedy,” Gordon-Levitt admitted to the Times.
“I remember having to teach Andrew Keegan how to draw a proper dick on my face,” Krumholtz recalled to Huffington Post in 2014.
“You know, people still say, ‘I have a dick on my face, don’t I?'” Krumholtz added.
“I remember on 10 Things, seeing Kat’s room for the first time and being like, No, why does the room look like that? I was upset about the music, because I had envisioned way more of a hardline, riot grrrl soundtrack,” Smith told Broadly.
I mean I love dancing, but sort of provocatively on the table? I was pretty guileless at that point.
“He was so specific about what he wanted to wear; it had to be this certain type of dark shirt with a precise fit,” Smith told Broadly.
Letters to Cleo—the band that played the club, the prom and closed the film covering “I Want You to Want Me” on the roof of Padua High—was basically the official house band of 10 Things I Hate About You, adding a hefty helping of mainstream fame to their already impressive indie rock credentials.
“We’re all arranged on top of this postage-stamp-sized roof with chicken wire the only thing protecting us from toppling to our deaths into the Puget Sound,” Hanley, who went on to provide Rachael Leigh Cook’s singing voice in Josie and the Pussycats, told the New York Times.
“The movie has such cult status that it seems almost sacrilege to tamper with it for television, but as a series 10 Things is not terrible; it is even at times fun.
Lindsey Shaw and Ethan Peck valiantly played Kat and Patrick, while Meaghan Martin and Nicholas Baum did swell turns as Bianca and Cameron.
Still, it had its devoted fans and lasted for 20 episodes, and before the back 10 aired in the spring of 2010, Shaw told Pop Sugar, “Obviously coming from a remake, you have a whole slew of things stacked against you.
After they were canceled, series creator Carter Covington told EW.com, “I was telling someone it feels kind of like a breakup.
There was brief talk of an 11 Things I Hate About You sequel, but a tonally synonymous follow-up called 10 Things I Hate About Life did get underway in 2012.
Not surprisingly, every single person involved in 10 Things I Hate About You wishes Ledger was here to reflect on the film’s 20th anniversary.
“I loved Heath,” Krumholtz told the Times.
Remembered Gabrielle Union, “Heath had the ability to look at you, and you feel like Princess Diana.