Julia Stiles paid tribute to the late Heath Ledger on Tuesday night’s episode of “Dancing With the Stars.”
On Dedication Night, she performed a contemporary routine with partner Ezra Sosa to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”; In the 1999 film “10 Things I Hate About You,” Ledger’s character Patrick sang the Frankie Valli number to Stiles’ Kat Stratford from the stands while she was at football practice.
©Touchstone Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
“I said if we were going to have anyone with us on stage to represent Heath’s legacy or the film, I said it had to be the entire cast. I begged them, every single one of them, and they all rallied around. They really did,” Stiles said. Variety after the routine. She said it was “really trippy” to see herself in the blue dress, similar to the one she wore in the film, and her hair done in a similar style. “At 17, I never thought I would be here at 45, celebrating my body, dancing to the show that I love and whose fans are still interested in this movie and still moved and touched by this movie.”
Earlier in the week, Stiles opened up to Variety on emotional repetitions.
“I know Dedication Night is emotional, but I thought I was far enough away from it. Like, oh, that was so many years ago. Something about seeing clips of that movie and footage and hearing my voice and hearing his voice brings back so many memories. It’s a lot,” she said, noting that she started crying while practicing. “One of the things we really hope to do as performers is make people feel something and make them care about the work that you’re doing, and his memory lives on because it was such an incredible performance.”
Ledger died in January 2008 at the age of 28.
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