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Julia Stiles has reflected on her iconic monologue in the 1999 teen romcom, 10 Things I Hate About You.
Based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the film saw the late Heath Ledger starring as the broody Patrick Verona, who has to try and convince the antisocial Kat Stratford, played by Stiles, to date him, so that new student Cameron James, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt can date Kat’s sister, Bianca, played by Larisa Oleynik.
The film went on to become a cult classic as well as a breakthrough film for Ledger, Stiles, and Gordon-Levitt.
At the film’s climax, Stiles’ character Kat is tasked with writing a poem, which she dedicates to Ledger’s Patrick. The moment is the subject of countless social media fan edits and is still a favourite for lovers of the romance genre.
Stiles was asked if she still remembered the sonnet, which was also quoted by Drake in his rap feud with nemesis Kendrick Lamar.
“Oh, I don’t think I could remember the whole thing,” she told The Guardian. “I’ve had to clear out space in my brain for 25 years of other monologues.
“Let’s see … ‘I hate the way you talk to me. I hate it when you stare … something, something, something … I hate your big dumb combat boots and the fact that you read my mind … something, something, something. But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even a little bit, not even at all.’”
She added her analysis of the moment, in the decades since reflecting: “That’s the heartbreaking part of it. She’s like: I really like you.”
In a recent interview, the film’s director Gil Junger confirmed that a sequel is “definitively in the works” and that it is being developed as a trilogy – 10 Things I Hate About Dating, followed by 10 Things I Hate About Marriage, and 10 Things I Hate About Kids.
The Save the Last Dance star commented on the news saying: “Am I going to be in the sequels? Oh, they’re news to me!”
Stiles previously told The Independent that the role had been an essential part of her self-discovery as a young actor.
“I was trying to form an identity for myself,” she said in 2020. “At 17, you’re largely influenced by what people are encouraging and what they’re discouraging. So then I read 10 Things I Hate About You, and absolutely fell in love with this character. I thought, ‘Finally, a teenage girl who speaks to me.’
“It’s just an affirmation that it’s OK to be intellectual, it’s OK to be somewhat serious, especially at that age.” Then again, she adds with a laugh, “I look back and I see more of the humour in it. It is funny that Kat is so angsty and serious and confrontational. My older self is like, ‘OK, lighten up a bit’, ironically.”
English (US) ·