March 31 marks 20 years since 10 Things I Hate About You came out in theaters, and we’re still loving it as much now as we did back then!
Related: Remembering Heath Ledger 11 Years Later — Which Role Is Your Favorite?
Here are 10 things you probably never knew about the movie that obviously ignited childhood crushes everywhere on Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
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10. Those Were Real Tears
We know we were crying real tears, but Julia Stiles‘ were real too as she read her poem to Heath Ledger aloud in class. Julia recently reflected on her feisty character, Kat:
“It was so refreshing to see a teenage girl who was so feisty. I thought that the writers had a healthy dose of cynicism with their humor that you don’t always find with teen romantic comedies.”
9. The First Kiss
Heath Ledger was Julia Stiles’ first on-screen kiss, and Julia said in a 2001 interview that he was the best kisser in Hollywood!
8. Save The Last Dance
Her role in 10 Things helped her score another big role, the lead in Save The Last Dance. Especially her dance number!
7. He Was Fluent In French IRL
In the movie, Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character Cameron James learns French just so he can tutor his crush Bianca Stratford, but in reality — he was already fluent in speaking French!
6. Ad-Libbing Love!
The cast had a lot of freedom with their lines, and one of the most popular lines from the movie “Kat Meow!” said by Allison Janney‘s character, guidance counselor Ms. Perky was ad-libbed:
“I ad-libbed, ‘Kat. Meow.’ That was me. I do that on some movies when I feel like the atmosphere is right and [director] Gil Junger was open to it and just let me do whatever I wanted to do. I was really thrilled about that one.”
5. 10 Thing I Hate About The House Blonde
There might be a reason you also love Legally Blonde and The House Bunny, as well as a few other classic mid-2000s chick flicks if you loved this movie, they’re written by the same duo: Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah.
4. Location, Location, Location
This movie was shot entirely on location in Washington, which definitely adds to the authenticity of the movie, especially for the high school!
3. A Sequel Happened…Kinda
In 2012, director Gil Junger began production on a sorta-sequel, 10 Things I Hate About Life. However, the film, starring Evan Rachel Wood and Thomas McDonnell, was never completed.
2. Roles Reversed
During a sit-down with co-writer Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith shared Larisa Oleynik had her sights set on the role of Kat instead of Bianca originally!
1. Genuine Friendship
So what has made this movie so wildly popular for the past 20 years? David Krumholtz, who played Michael in the film shared sweet anecdotes about the closeness of the cast:
“Work was fun, and after work we were inseparable. We laughed, we partied, we rapped. Joseph Gordon-Levitt turned me on to Phish, and I turned him on to Wu-Tang. Gabrielle Union had us in stitches, Julia Stiles brought her own brand of Soho-bred artistic intellectualism (at only 17, mind you), Larisa Oleynik’s laughter filled the room, and we marveled at the tonedness of Andrew Keegan’s muscles (a great sport!).”
We know we’ll be watching for the next 20 years to come!
P.S. CLICK HERE to read about how the cast is remembering Heath 20 years later.
[Image via Touchstone Pictures & Karen McCullah/Twitter & FayesVision/Nikki Nelson/WENN.]
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