Julia Stiles will honor her late 10 Things I Hate About You co-star Heath Ledger on Dancing with the Stars Dedication Night, and she admits rehearsals have already brought her to tears. Stiles and her pro partner Ezra Sosa will dance a Contemporary to Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” when the episode airs Tuesday, October 20.
The song choice will be instantly familiar to fans of the 1999 movie. In it, Ledger’s character serenades Stiles’ character with the song.
“I was crying in rehearsals today,” Stiles told Variety at the InStyle Imagemaker Awards in Los Angeles. “It’s so crazy.”
Why The Tribute Hits So Hard
Stiles said she expected to have some distance from the memories after so many years, but working on the routine changed that. “I know that Dedication Night is emotional, but I thought I was distanced from it enough. Like, oh, it was so many years ago,” she said. “Something about seeing clips from that movie and images and hearing my voice and hearing his voice is bringing back so many memories. It’s a lot.”
She said what she is taking away from the dedication is that “one of the things that we really hope to do as performers is to make people feel something and have people care about the work that you do, and his memory lives on because it was such an incredible performance.”
Stiles revealed that Dancing with the Stars producers had asked her to join the show for a couple of years before she finally said yes. She thinks turning 45 is what finally tipped the scales. “I was like, ‘I’m halfway to 90! Why not? It’s now or never,'” she said. She knew the show would mean getting past her nerves and finding her love of performing again, and then deadpanned, “Yeah, maybe I should tackle that in front of millions and millions of people.”
What To Expect On Dedication Night
Dedication Night is the sixth week of Season 35, and ABC says the 10 remaining couples will each perform a routine honoring a person or place that shaped their lives. Two-time Mirrorball champion Kym Johnson returns as a guest judge for the night.
The episode airs from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, simulcasting live on ABC and Disney+, and streams the next day on Hulu. Fan votes cast during the live show are combined with the judges’ scores to decide who is in danger of elimination.
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