Julia Stiles used Dedication Week on Dancing With the Stars to honor late co-star Heath Ledger, and several original castmates showed up in person to stand with her.
The Sun reported that viewers watching the latest episode saw Stiles and pro partner Ezra Sosa dance to Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” the same song tied to one of the most famous scenes in the 1999 rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You.
At the end of the number, Stiles walked toward a giant screen showing Ledger from the film and placed a rose beside the image. Castmates then gathered on the dancefloor in a row, arms around each other.
The night was framed as support for Stiles and a direct tribute to Ledger, who played Patrick opposite her Kat more than two decades ago.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gabrielle Union, Larisa Oleynik, Susan May Pratt, and Andrew Keegan all came to back Stiles on the U.S. ballroom show, long described as America’s answer to Strictly Come Dancing.
Dancing With the Stars shared a backstage video of the reunion. Union introduced the group on camera.
Union said:
"Hey, we’re the cast of 10 Things I Hate About You, and we are here tonight on Dancing with the Stars to support our girl, Julia Stiles. She’s gonna kill it!"
Stiles is 45. Gordon-Levitt is also 45. Union is 43. Oleynik is 45. Pratt is 52. Keegan is 47. The ages underscored how long it has been since the high-school story hit theaters, and how many of the principals still made the trip.
Fans watching at home zeroed in on the faces. Some said they were not prepared for the moment. Others barely recognized Oleynik, who played on-screen sister Bianca and appeared in a black dress with a pixie bob.
The track choice was not random. In the movie, Ledger’s Patrick serenades Stiles’ Kat on a high school football field with that same Frankie Valli hit. Pairing the song with Dedication Week turned a standard ballroom routine into a public memorial.
Ledger, an Australian actor, died on January 22, 2008, from an accidental prescription drug overdose. He was found in his New York City apartment. He was 28.
That left the 1999 film as one of the early roles that fixed him in American pop culture, before later work sealed a wider reputation. Stiles’ rose at the screen kept the focus on the person, not the mythology.
No full judges’ commentary, scores, or elimination result from that night appears in the available account. The reported core was simpler: a cast that once played teenagers showed up as adults for one of their own, and for the co-star who is gone.
Hollywood moves on fast and forgets faster. A rose, an old song, and a row of castmates still willing to stand together cut against that habit.
