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Julia Stiles’ Heath Ledger Tribute On ‘DWTS’ Includes 1 Heartbreaking Surprise
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We say this sincerely: Grab tissues. Julia Stiles paid tribute to the late Heath Ledger on Tuesday night’s episode of “Dancing With the Stars” with a moving dance that’ll act as a punch to the gut to any fan of the 1999 teen comedy “10 Things I Hate About You.” That’s because the contemporary dance, performed during the competition show’s “Dedication Night,” included several heartbreaking references to the film. Stiles evoked her character, Kat Stratford, wore her hair in loose curls and donned a blue dress similar to the number Kat wore at prom. Stiles and her partner, Ezra Sosa, performed the dance to the song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” — a track featured in one of the most famous scenes from the movie in which Ledger’s character, Patrick Verona, sings it to Kat in front of her soccer team in an attempt to woo her. As an extra nod to the iconic scene, Stiles and Sosa did a few dance moves that resembled the goofy ones Ledger performed in the film. Toward the end of the dance, Sosa handed Stiles a single rose and left the stage. Stiles then turned her back to the audience and began to walk toward the back of the stage, where an image of Kat and Patrick was superimposed. As she walked, audio played from another tearjerking moment from the film — the one in which Kat reads her titular poem, “10 Things I Hate About You,” which was about Patrick. As Kat recites the lines from the poem, “But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even close, not even a little bit,” Stiles placed the rose on the steps of the stage. As she backed up, the camera panned out to reveal a sweet surprise: a cast reunion. Standing on the stage holding hands were fellow “10 Things I Hate About You” stars Gabrielle Union (Chastity), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Cameron James), Larisa Oleynik (Bianca Stratford), Susan May Pratt (Mandella) and Andrew Keegan (Joey Donner). Stiles told Variety on Wednesday that she “bawled” before taking the stage for the tribute dance. She also shared her reasoning behind inviting the rest of the cast on stage. “I said, if we had to have someone with us on stage representing Heath’s legacy or the film, I said it had to be the whole cast,” Stiles said. “I begged them, each and every one of them, and they all rallied. They really did.” Ledger died in January 2008 at the age of 28. Watch the entire dance in the video here. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.