Julia Stiles recalls what it was like to work with Heath Ledger

Julia Stiles sings her praises 10 things i hate about you costar Heath Ledger years after his untimely death.

“He was amazing,” Stiles, 43, told the exclusive AND! News in an interview published on Tuesday, January 14. “He was such a bright light.”

While Stiles gushed that she and all of her co-stars had “so much fun and were so close on set” of the 1998 film, she recalled that there was something different about Ledger’s interactions. “He just walked into the room and turned on the lights,” she said.

Stiles, who played his first ever leading role in the beloved romantic comedy, said Ledger “was very kind and generous to me.”

“As you know, when you’re an actress in your first lead role in a major studio film, you have to feel comfortable with the second one,” Stiles said. “And he was very generous like that.

Stiles and Ledger played high school love interests in the film, who also played Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Cameron James), Gabrielle Union (Chastity), 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 indicated that Ledger died of “acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine.”

Reminiscing about filming with Ledger, Stiles said her character Kat Strafford’s paintball date with Heath’s Patrick Verona was “really, really fun”. Stiles also noted that the scene where Kat read her poem aloud to the class elicited an emotional response.

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Popular 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-crossed lovers Kat Stratford and Patrick Verona, respectively. The pair reluctantly fell in love in the middle of 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 only happened because the film was coming to an end, the production was coming to an end. And I think I was so moved by the whole experience.”

In the years following publication 10 things i hate about youStiles revealed My Weekly in 2019 that her memories from the movie they run away.

“I have so many great memories from that movie that are fading because it’s been 20 years,” Stiles said. “But it was a special time when we were all so excited.

She added: “It was my first big job and I really loved the part because I’ve never seen a teenage girl character so fierce and it was really refreshing and I was really, really happy to be a part of it. .”