10 Things I Hate About You came out on March 31, 1999, and somehow it still owns every sleepover, every rainy Sunday and every “what should we watch” argument. Kat Stratford read her poem, Patrick Verona sang on the bleachers, and a whole generation learned that hate is just love wearing combat boots. So in honour of the movie, here is my own version: 10 things I hate about you, times ten random people we have all met. Then we get to the real question everyone keeps typing into Google about Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger.

10 Things I Hate About You: 10 Random People, 100 Pet Peeves

None of these people are real. All of them are real. You know exactly who they are.

1. The Movie Theatre Talker

I hate the way you narrate the plot, explain jokes I already laughed at, crinkle the same wrapper for 40 minutes, check your phone at full brightness, kick my seat, guess the twist out loud, answer a call “real quick”, hum the score, ask “who’s that?” every scene, and say “that was mid” before the credits finish.

2. The Reply-All Coworker

I hate the way you reply all to say “thanks!”, CC the entire company, write “per my last email”, schedule meetings that should be emails, send emails that should be texts, mark everything urgent, forget the attachment, resend with the wrong attachment, use six exclamation marks, and sign off “Best” like a threat.

3. The Gym Mirror Hog

I hate the way you camp on the only bench, film a 14-minute set, leave your weights on the bar, grunt like a dial-up modem, sweat on the machine and walk away, block the mirror, give unsolicited form tips, rest on your phone for ten minutes, play music without headphones, and call it “leg day” every day.

4. The Airplane Seat Recliner

I hate the way you slam your seat back during the meal, hog both armrests, take off your shoes, stand up the second we land, open the window shade at 3 a.m., kick the tray table, talk across the aisle, bring tuna on board, ignore the seatbelt sign and clap when the plane touches down.

5. The Group Chat Ghost

I hate the way you read everything and reply to nothing, show up only to ask for a ride, leave us on “seen” for six days, react with a thumbs-up to bad news, send a voice note longer than a podcast, change the group name at midnight, mute the chat then ask what you missed, never vote in the poll, bail at the last second and reply “lol” to a crisis.

6. The Spoiler Uncle

I hate the way you spoil finales at dinner, say “the book was better” without reading it, rate every movie a six, explain the ending I just watched, insist the old version was better, start every story with “back in my day”, tell the same joke at every holiday, remember every plot except the one I asked about, never finish a series, and still somehow know who dies.

7. The Self-Checkout Philosopher

I hate the way you scan one item at a time like it is a ritual, argue with the machine, call over the attendant three times, bag nothing until the end, pay with coins, forget the coupon, then find it, then forget the PIN, leave the cart in the lane and say “these things never work” to everyone in line.

8. The Parking Lot Pioneer

I hate the way you take two spaces, back in for no reason, idle in the fire lane, wait for the front spot while a line forms, open your door into mine, leave your cart beside my bumper, honk at pedestrians, stop dead to read a text, block the exit and wave at me like we are friends.

9. The Concert Videographer

I hate the way you hold your phone up for the whole show, film with the flash on, scream the wrong lyrics, talk through the slow songs, shove forward during the encore, block the stage with a sign, post the blurry video before the song ends, leave during the best part, ask “what song is this?” and say “they sounded better live” while we are still live.

10. The Neighbour With the Leaf Blower

I hate the way you start the leaf blower at 7 a.m. on Saturday, blow the leaves into my yard, mow the lawn during my calls, power wash for four hours, park the boat on the street, let the dog bark at the moon, grill something that smells better than my dinner, never wave back, borrow my ladder and return it in 2031, and somehow have the nicest garden on the block.

And the twist, Kat Stratford style: I don’t hate any of you. Not even close. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.

Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger: The Bleacher Scene That Made a Generation

10 Things I Hate About You was directed by Gil Junger and written by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith as a high-school spin on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. It was filmed in and around Tacoma, Washington, with the castle-like Stadium High School standing in for Padua High. Julia Stiles played Kat Stratford, Heath Ledger played Patrick Verona, Joseph Gordon-Levitt played Cameron and Larisa Oleynik played Bianca.

The moment everyone remembers is the stadium serenade: Patrick grabs the PA system, runs the bleachers and sings Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” while the marching band backs him up. That one scene is pure Heath Ledger Julia Stiles chemistry, and it is the reason so many people still search for heath ledger and julia stiles more than 25 years later.

Julia Stiles Movies After Kat Stratford

The list of Julia Stiles movies is longer than most people remember. After 10 Things I Hate About You she starred in Hamlet (2000), Save the Last Dance and O (2001), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), and played Nicky Parsons across the Bourne films. Later came Silver Linings Playbook (2012), Hustlers (2019) and Orphan: First Kill (2022), and she stepped behind the camera to direct Wish You Were Here. Julia Stiles is still working, still sharp, and still Kat to a lot of us.

Did Julia Stiles Date Heath Ledger?

Short answer: there is no confirmed romance. When people ask “did Julia Stiles date Heath Ledger” or “did Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles date”, the most solid answer comes from the director. Gil Junger has said that Stiles’s off-screen romance during that era was with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, not Ledger. Some old fan write-ups claim otherwise, but neither star ever confirmed it. So Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger were co-stars and friends on screen, not a real-life couple.

Were Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger Close?

By her own account, yes, in the way that first-big-movie castmates are close. In a January 2025 interview with E! News, Stiles called Ledger “such a bright light” and said, “He just walked into the room and lit it up.” She also said he was “very kind and generous” to her on what was her first starring role in a major studio film. The bleacher song, she has said, was definitely not her idea.

Heath Ledger died on January 22, 2008, at 28, and won a posthumous Academy Award for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight. (If you landed here after typing “health ledger” or “hearh ledger”, you are in the right place. Grief makes typos of all of us.)

The Julia Stiles Heath Ledger Tribute on Dancing with the Stars

The Julia Stiles Heath Ledger tribute airs tonight, October 20, 2026, on Dedication Night of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Stiles and her pro partner Ezra Sosa are dancing to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, the same song Patrick sang to Kat on the bleachers. Stiles told reporters she was “crying in rehearsals” and that hearing his voice again was “bringing back so many memories.” Bring tissues.

10 Things I Hate About You: FAQ

Did Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger date?

No romance was ever confirmed. Director Gil Junger has said Julia Stiles dated Joseph Gordon-Levitt around the time of filming, and Stiles describes Heath Ledger as a kind, generous co-star.

Where was 10 Things I Hate About You filmed?

In Tacoma, Washington, with some scenes in Seattle. Stadium High School in Tacoma played Padua High, and its stadium hosted the famous bleacher song.

What song does Heath Ledger sing in 10 Things I Hate About You?

“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, originally by Frankie Valli. Julia Stiles is dancing to the same song in her 2026 Dancing with the Stars tribute.

Want more from this blog? Read my click fraud interrogation parody, or brush up on the film itself on Wikipedia.

Sources: Variety; Newsweek / E! News; Nylon (Gil Junger). Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Stadium High School stadium: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0; Julia Stiles: David Shankbone, CC BY-SA 3.0; Heath Ledger: Siebbi (derivative work: César), CC BY 3.0. The ten “random people” are fictional composites.