Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger
WireImage; FilmMagicJulia Stiles sings her praises 10 things I hate about you costar Heath Ledger years after his untimely death.
“He was amazing,” Stiles, 43, exclusively said. AND! News in an interview published on Tuesday, January 14. “He was such a bright light.”
While Stiles claimed that she and all of her co-stars had “so much fun and were so close on the set” of the 1998 film, she recalled that there was something different about Ledger’s interactions. “He just walked into the room and lit it up,” she said.
Stiles, whose first starring role is in the beloved romantic comedy, said Ledger “was very kind and generous to me.”
“You know, when you’re an actress in your first leading role in a major studio movie, you have to feel comfortable with another person,” Stiles said. “And he was very generous in that way.”
Stiles and Ledger played high school sweethearts in the film, who also acted Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Cameron James), Gabrielle Union (Virtue), Allison Janney (Mrs. Perky), David Krumholtz (Michael Eckman), Larisa Oleynik (Bianca Stratford), Andrew Keegan (Joey Donner) and Susan May Pratt (Mandela).
Ledger died at the age of 28 in 2008 after an accidental drug overdose. A toxicology report released at the time found Ledger died of “acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.”
Recalling filming with Ledger, Stiles said her character Kat Strafford’s paintball session with Heath’s Patrick Verona was “really, really fun.” Stiles also noted that the scene where Kat reads her poem aloud to the class caused an emotional reaction.
Favorite 10 Things I Hate About You debuted on March 31, 1999, and more than two decades later, fans are still talking about the romantic comedy. Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger played star lovers Kat Stratford and Patrick Verona. The couple reluctantly fell in love with each other in the background (…)
“In the scene where I was reading the poem, I didn’t expect to start crying or tearing up or choking up, whatever,” Stiles recalled. “But it just happened because the film was coming to an end, the production was coming to an end. And I think I was very moved by the whole experience.”
In the years after release 10 things I hate about yourevealed Stiles to Us Weekly in 2019 to her memories from the movie they slip away.
“I have so many great memories from that movie that fade because it’s been 20 years,” Stiles said. “But it was such a special time when we were all so excited.”
She added: “It was my first big job and I really loved that part because I hadn’t seen a teenage girl character so vibrant before and it was really refreshing and I was really, really happy to be a part of it.”