The Writers Of 10 Things I Hate About You Can't Imagine Ever Doing A Follow-Up Without Heath Ledger
An unattainable crush, a stadium serenade (marching band included), and a poem detailing the 10 things that a girl hates about the guy she actually loves. These ingredients make up the high school rom-com "10 Things I Hate About You." Julia Stiles plays Kat Stratford, a teenager who isn't keen on dating and is the older sister to the popular Bianca (Larisa Oleynik). The equally popular Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan) and newcomer Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) have hopes of asking Bianca out, but she can't date anyone until her sister finds a boyfriend, per her father's rules. Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) is recruited to ask out Kat and win her over in the hopes that Bianca will no longer be off limits. The film, based on William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," has become a mainstay in pop culture and is known for memorable moments, including Patrick's impromptu rendition of Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes off You" during Kat's soccer practice.
The film has been capturing hearts since it first premiered in 1999. Lately, it's been common practice to revisit big pop culture moments of the 1990s both on the big and small screen, but the writers behind "10 Things I Hate About You" have shut down any talk of a follow-up to the beloved film.
The writers said Ledger was essential to 10 Things I Hate About You
While the film was later turned into a short-lived TV series back in 2009, screenwriters Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith and Karen McCullah told Refinery29 that they can't see themselves making a sequel or reboot without Heath Ledger who died in 2008 (via The New York Times). "Given Heath's death, I think it would be hard to do it without him," said McCullah. "I wouldn't want to reboot with another cast since this is the perfect cast, to me." Smith echoed her screenwriting partner, adding that the idea of a reboot or sequel has come up from time to time, but it's just never felt right. "He [Ledger] was such a central part of the story and the sun around what so many of the actors orbited," she said.
According to HuffPost, Ledger was 18 years old when he auditioned for "10 Things I Hate About You." Like much of the cast, Ledger's career would skyrocket following the film's release with credits such as "Brokeback Mountain" and "The Dark Knight." According to Refinery29, this was also a big break for the film's writers who have continued to help grow the rom-com genre with films like "Legally Blonde" and "She's the Man."