When 10 Things I Hate About You was released, 25 years ago today, viewers all over the world fell head over heels for Heath Ledger and his sizzling talent, as well as his blinding chemistry with fellow unknown, Julia Stiles, but that very nearly wasn’t the case.
On March 31, 1999, just weeks after we were introduced to Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Reese Witherspoon in Cruel Intentions, Ledger and Stiles arrived to steal our hearts, with nothing more than a poem and a song – despite bigger names being thrown around for the roles.
The flick redefined teen movies with a loose take on William Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew, following sisters Kat (Stiles) and Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), whose strict father will not allow them to date. This isn’t ideal for lovestruck teenager Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is smitten with Bianca, although she actually wants to be with Joey ‘Eat Me’ Donner (Andrew Keegan).
In an effort to woo her, Cameron underhandedly enlists Patrick Verona (Ledger) – through Joey’s money – to seduce Kat. Of course, it’s never that simple as the bad boy eventually falls for the angsty feminist, giving us one of the best love stories of our time.
It was an instant hit and grossed around $60million at the worldwide box office, with critics applauding the ‘razor-sharp barbs’, describing the flick as ‘the most charming and unselfconscious’ homage to Shakespeare.
As it’s 25 years on (and because we are obsessed with the great comedy films from, let’s face it, a much better time) Metro.co.uk wanted to probe the mind of director Gil Junger, who opened up about how the masterpiece, which served as his film debut, came to be.
The filmmaker shared his belief that it was a ‘hit movie from day one’, because he never saw it as a typical teen movie, but instead a portrayal of ‘emotionally resonant’ human relationships between people who just happened to be in high school.
As incredible as the soundtrack, the costumes and the stunning, Shakespearean set are, a lot of the magic on screen is down to the excellent cast, and everyone is truly perfect for the role they were given.
Oleynik played the vapid, popularity-obsessed younger sister, Bianca, to a tee – with her faux-deep discussions of being ‘whelmed’ in Europe, while there was truly no one better for her older, grungier sister, Kat, than Stiles.
Baby-faced Gordon-Levitt as the lovestruck newbie Cameron was iconic, but there is no denying that Ledger, his dimples, that shaggy hair and the accent stole the show without even breaking a sweat – with 10 Things catapulting him to superstardom and firmly inside the heart of every millennial.
‘Some genius cast that movie,’ Junger laughed, before shedding light on how everything came together behind the scenes.
While things moved quickly when it came to Gordon-Levitt, who was offered a role after appearing in 3rd Rock From The Sun, it was harder to pin down the two lead parts, as the director remembered: ‘We didn’t have the male lead, three weeks before the movie got shot. Because I’m so picky, selective, it’s just that I trust my instincts, because that’s all I have as a director. No one just made me go, “Oh, my God! That’s the guy!”
‘I was at Disney, casting yet again, and I had already seen about 250. There’s myself, Marcia Ross, the head of casting at Disney, Donna Morong and three other women … we’re seeing guy after guy after guy.’
Junger explained that Ross flagged the next audition was a ‘favor’ to an agent, but that she wasn’t familiar with his work, or whether he was suitable for the role.
‘Heath walked in, he took about four steps towards me and, being as selective as I am, I thought after about four steps, “If this f**ker can read English, I’m going to cast him”. That’s the God’s honest truth,’ he recalled. ‘[He was] so profound and so confident, that it was just an instinct.
‘He read the first page, and at the end of the first page, I asked him to stop. He was ashen, like, “Oh, no, I blew it.”’
Instead, Junger wanted to see how good Ledger was at ‘improv’, and after a few minutes, the audition was over and he landed the job he flew nearly 20 hours from Australia to audition for.
‘He left and the instant the door closed, I turned to the ladies and said, “I have never wanted to sleep with a man. But if I had to sleep with a man, that would be the man. Cast him immediately.” He was cast before he got to his car. He was a freaking star. I just felt it.’
He had the same instinct during his first meeting with Stiles, with this encounter also set up by another agent – in a way that probably wouldn’t fly today as he asked her to his hotel room in New York, while he was directing a TV show. She arrived with no make-up, baggy clothes and a confidence that he would never forget.
‘I am telling you, the way she was dressed, the way she looked, the way she carried herself. The way she shook my hand firmly and looked right in my eyes, and said, “Hi, I’m Julia. Nice to meet you.” I was like, that’s the girl,’ he continued.
‘She’s just really someone that doesn’t follow peer pressure, which is exactly what the character was like in the script. No peer pressure, a little aloof, very smart – she was definitely that and she still is.
‘That selection of those two people was kismet. It was just ridiculous, how special they were.’
Despite having their two perfect leads in place, Disney bosses still needed to be convinced as they had their eyes on some bigger names.
Junger reflected: ‘I had to screen test the actors because Disney suggested I hire this person, this person, this person and this person. Basically it was all the stars of Dawson’s Creek, and I’m not kidding. Because Dawson’s Creek, at the time, was a big hit show … They were interested in James Van Der Beek and Katie Holmes. They said, these are the two leads in our opinion.’
Having none of it, the filmmaker fought his ground and urged them to ‘trust’ him to fill the cast with ‘future stars’ – and they reached a compromise by having Holmes and Van Der Beek screen test for the roles beside Stiles and Ledger, where it was evident that the latter pair were more suited.
‘It just would have been another movie,’ Gil insisted. ‘That’s not to say anything against Katie Holmes and James Van Der Beek. Obviously, they’re successful people. But they just didn’t spark this director like Heath and Julia did. Disney was kind enough and respectful enough to allow me to follow my instincts, and I’m very grateful for that.’
With the cast finally in place just days before production was due to begin, there was another hurdle when Junger petitioned for the entire movie to be relocated to Washington State, because he wanted to avoid ‘another LA movie’ after the success of Clueless four years prior.
They eventually got the go-ahead to move everything – for $1million, a huge portion of the overall $11million budget – and leapt into action, bringing 10 Things to Seattle with just two weeks of prep time.
As the cast compared their experience on set to ‘summer camp’, Junger also looked back at that time fondly, joking that everyone was relatively young, so had no egos – they simply wanted to do a good job and make a great film.
Despite being ‘very green’, Ledger clearly had a knack for understanding his character and how to make everyone positively swoon, and elevated any scene he was in – whether it was a paintball fight or serenading an entire school, and everyone sitting at home.
Junger also recalled that he surprised everyone by adding something that wasn’t scripted, telling us: ‘When the cameras rolled, Heath surprised all of us by running across the stadium. He simply let his creative genius flow unrestrained, as only a true artist can. Luckily our camera departmenthad no problem covering the magic as if it were set in stone.’
But there were also times the director had to give the Knight’s Tale lead a talking-to on set after noticing that he wasn’t quite on his A-game – explaining that he realized something was off while going over a scene where Patrick stormed away from Cameron and Michael (David Krumholtz) in the cafeteria out of embarrassment.
He remembered that Ledger looked ‘tired’ and ‘a little out of it’, so pulled him aside to question whether he had been indulging in late nights when the cameras stopped rolling. The young star insisted that partying had nothing to do with, but instead was struggling to juggle the female attention as girls were knocking on his door throughout the night – despite the fact the movie was nowhere near release, and he was relatively unknown.
‘This is before the movie came out. That to me was so unbelievable. If he was Chris Hemsworth, okay, I get it,’ Junger laughed. ‘But he was a total unknown. His vibe, his sexuality just screamed to people … He was such an old soul.’
Ledger died on January 22, 2008, following an accidental overdose – shortly after he completed work on The Dark Knight. He earned a posthumous best supporting actor Oscar for his stint as the Joker, with the role going down as one of the most celebrated portrayals in movie history.
It was even more devastating for the filmmaker, who enjoyed working with him so much that he was hoping to team up on another project, and didn’t get the chance to even speak to him about it.
‘It’s so sad, because he wasn’t a drug guy. He wasn’t a drug addict. Actually, to make it even sadder, I wrote [another] film and it was always my intention that he would be in it,’ he shared, revealing he called Ledger’s agent with the possible script days before his death.
‘10 days later, he was dead. From medicine, drugs to help him sleep. It’s so sad. If he was a drug guy, I would say, “it’s unfortunate drugs killed him”. But, to me, that made it so much sadder, because he wasn’t that guy.’
Ledger’s impact was felt throughout the set on every scene he was in, but Stiles uncovered the special way he made sure she was also given her moment to shine when it came to her emotional poem reading.
Ask any millennial about Kat’s sonnet and, decades later, we guarantee they will still be able to recite the entire thing, down to the tiny moment she messed up. Speaking to the New York Times, the actress explained that before they filmed the seminal scene, where her feelings for Patrick were laid bare in front of her entire class, he made it known that she was to be the focus of the shoot, and that it ‘wasn’t about him’.
Junger confessed that he didn’t get the memo about being restrained, and accidentally sobbed the entire way through – while perched under the camera on a moving dolly mere feet away – and was amazed they nailed it in one perfect take.
He said: ‘I was so proud, so amazed, so taken by that performance, that about halfway down the center, I started crying. By the time we were close to her, I was sobbing. Because of my love for Julia and how amazed I was that a 17-year-old girl could find a performance like that. It was overwhelming to me.
‘I had my hand 100% over my mouth, closing any air. I was on the front of the dolly, shaking, sobbing, so that I didn’t ruin the take for her. I said cut and then I let it go, and I f**king lost it. So did Julia. She ran up and hugged me. I hugged her so tight – that moment to me was easily one of the most perfect performances I’ve ever seen in my 47-year career.’
While they changed location at the very last minute, they didn’t have a cast locked down until there were days to go, and they had to wrestle Ledger away from hoards of girls on a regular basis, Junger managed to do the impossible – he completed the movie before the deadline, and under budget.
10 Things was released in 1999, shortly after She’s All That and Cruel Intentions premiered, and just months before the first American Pie hit our screens. There is no denying that a lot has changed since then – including humor, fashion and the way audiences react to entertainment. Things that were acceptable and funny in those days haven’t quite stood the test of time, making for some awkward re-watches now.
When asked whether he believes that 10 Things stands up now, Junger – who went on to found the Breakthru Company to share his incredible experience with actors to help them nail auditions – added: ‘Shockingly so. It’s amazing to me. All I was shooting was truth. Truth of emotions.
‘You look at most movies 25 years ago, and you’re like, “Oh my god, that’s so corny, it just doesn’t work, or it’s so on the nose”. Whereas this film just resonates today, I think as powerfully as it did back then.
‘That emotion and that heart were playing on very universal themes that are as valid today as they were 25 years ago. I have often said to people that the experience of the entire film, for me, felt magical and totally alive, like the stars aligned.’
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