Julia Stiles checked with Michelle Williams before she paid tribute to Heath Ledger on Dancing with the Stars. Speaking to Extra after her October 20 Dedication Night performance, Stiles said simply, “I did ask Michelle if this was okay. And she said, yes.”
Williams and Ledger were together from 2004 to 2007 and share a daughter, Matilda. When she was asked what Ledger’s family might make of the tribute, Stiles kept it short: “I don’t really want to speak for them.”
A Dance Built Around Patrick Verona’s Big Moment
The routine leaned on one of the best-known scenes in 10 Things I Hate About You, the 1999 Touchstone Pictures comedy that starred Stiles and Ledger. Stiles danced to Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” the song Ledger’s Patrick Verona sings across the school bleachers to win over Stiles’ Kat Stratford.
Stiles also turned the night into a reunion. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, Gabrielle Union, Susan May Pratt and Andrew Keegan all joined her on the DWTS stage, and she told Variety that getting them there took some persuading. “I begged them, each and every one of them, and they all rallied. They really did,” she said.
She was candid about how strange the moment felt more than 25 years after filming. “At 17 years old, I never would have thought that I’d be here at 45, celebrating my body, dancing on the show that I absolutely love and that fans are still interested in this movie and still moved and touched by this movie,” Stiles said.
The One Cast Member Who Couldn’t Make It
David Krumholtz, who played Michael, the nerdy friend of Gordon-Levitt’s Cameron, was the notable absence. He explained in an Instagram video the next day that he was in upstate New York shooting a film and couldn’t get to Los Angeles for the live show. “I would have loved, loved, loved to have been there,” he said, adding that Stiles’ tribute to “my dear friend who I miss every single day was amazing and stunning, and I’m so proud of her.” We have more on why Krumholtz missed the reunion.
Why Dedication Night Hit So Hard
Ledger died in January 2008, less than a decade after 10 Things was released. Dedication Night asks each celebrity to dance for someone who mattered to them, and Stiles chose a co-star whose loss still weighs on the people who worked with him, as Krumholtz’s message made clear. Reaching out to Williams first is a small detail, but it shows how carefully Stiles approached a tribute that touches a family as well as a fan base.
Season 35 of Dancing with the Stars continues Tuesday nights on ABC. You can catch up on how the reunion came together in our story on Stiles reuniting the 10 Things I Hate About You cast.
For the latest news and updates make sure to follow us on social media! Facebook | Twitter | Threads | Instagram | TikTok
