12 Things You Never Knew About '10 Things I Hate About You' on its 20th Anniversary
Apparently the easiest way to make Shakespeare accessible to modern teens is to re-imagine his iconic stories as movies about high school romance. That's the takeaway from "10 Things I Hate About You," a rom-com that's stayed fresh and relevant even after 20 years. Celebrate that anniversary with a few interesting factoids you might not have known.
1. "10 Things I Hate About You" is a modernized retelling of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," a play that follows the difficult courtship between main characters Petruchio and Katherina.
2.Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character Cameron actually quotes a line from "The Taming of the Shrew" when he says "I burn, I pine, I perish!"
3. The film was shot entirely on location in Tacoma and Seattle, Washington, with the real-life Stadium High School in Tacoma being transformed into Padua High School.
4.Heath Ledger's fellow teen heartthrobs Josh Hartnett and Ashton Kutcher also tried out for the role of Patrick.
5. There's a strange trend of actors who sing "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" on screen later going on to play Batman villains. Ledger became the third actor to manage that feat after Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer.
6. Apparently Julia Stiles' character Kat has a thing for Batman's nemesis, the Joker. Not only did Ledger go on to play Joker in 2008's "The Dark Knight," but Kat also keeps a picture of actor Jared Leto hidden in her bedroom. Leto played Joker in 2016's "Suicide Squad."
7.Larisa Oleynik and Joseph Gordon-Levitt also played characters who date on the sitcom "Third Rock From the Sun."
8. Julia Stiles and Andrew Keegan would go on to star in another modernized, high school-oriented Shakespeare film in 2001's "O."
9. Director Gil Junger also played a small role as a teacher at Padua High, but his scenes were cut from the final version.
10. The final cut of the film also jettisoned a subplot involving Susan May Pratt's character Mandella contemplating suicide as a way of getting closer to Shakespeare.
11. Despite playing a high schooler in the movie, Gabrielle Union was 26 at the time of filming.
12. The movie was remade as a TV sitcom for ABC Family in 2009. While Junger returned to direct several episodes, Larry Miller was the only actor to reprise his role from the film.