10 Things I Hate About You

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10 Things I Hate About You
Promotional poster
Directed by	Gil Junger
Produced by	Andrew Lazar
Written by	Karen McCullah Lutz Kirsten Smith
Starring	Heath Ledger Julia Stiles Larisa Oleynik Joseph Gordon-Levitt David Krumholtz Andrew Keegan Larry Miller
Music by	Richard Gibbs
Cinematography	Mark Irwin
Editing by	O. Nicholas Brown
Distributed by	Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s)	March 31, 1999
Running time	97 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$16 million
Gross revenue	$53,478,166

10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American romantic comedy film. It is directed by Gil Junger and stars Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz and Larry Miller. A loose adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew set in a modern American high school, the screenplay was written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith. The movie's title is a twist on The Taming of the Shrew (see below) but is also a reference to a poem written by the film's female lead to describe her bittersweet romance with the male lead. The film was released March 31, 1999, and it was a breakout success for stars Stiles and Ledger.^[1][2][3] The film marks the directing debut of Junger, as well as the screenplay debut for Lutz and Smith. Lutz and Smith later wrote the screenplay for a second Shakespeare teen comedy, She's the Man. On November 20, 2008, TV Guide reported that ABC Family is planning to remake the film as a television series.^[4]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast of characters 3 Shakespearean references 4 Production 5 Release and reception 5.1 Box office 5.2 Critics 5.3 Awards and nominations 6 Television series 6.1 Cast 7 Soundtrack 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Plot

Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the new kid at Padua High School, is given a tour of the school by Michael Eckman (David Krumholtz), who is an audio-visual geek and former leader of a clique of future MBAs. Michael provides Cameron with information on the school’s various cliques. During the tour, Cameron spots the beautiful and popular Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik) and is immediately smitten with her. Michael warns that Bianca is shallow, conceited, and worst of all, not allowed to date. Michael does, however, inform Cameron that Bianca is looking for a French tutor.

At the Stratford residence, Bianca’s outcast older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) receives a letter of acceptance to Sarah Lawrence College. Her protective father, Walter (Larry Miller), is distraught by the news, as he wants Kat to attend college nearby. Kat distracts her father by revealing that Bianca was given a ride home from school by Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan). Bianca begs her father to allow her to date, but to no avail. Kat's aversion to dating prompts the father to come up with a new rule: Bianca can only date if Kat is dating.

Cameron starts tutoring Bianca, and she informs him of her father’s rule after Cameron makes many failed attempts to ask her out. This news motivates Cameron and Michael to set out to find a boy who is willing to date Kat.

Cameron suggests Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger), an outcast who is just as ill-tempered as Kat. Cameron tries asking Patrick for his assistance, but Patrick scares him off. Michael then poses the idea to Joey, also attempting to date Bianca, to pay Patrick to take Kat out. Patrick agrees, but Kat, however, wants nothing to do with Patrick. Cameron and Michael finally explain their situation to Patrick and inform him that Bogie Lowenstein (Kyle Cease) is throwing a party (this is actually a plot by Michael to get revenge, as a rumor from Bogie had got him kicked out of their clique). Cameron and Michael spread rumors around school that Bogie's party will have free beer and dancing, although it is actually a small private gathering.

At the party, Kat tells Joey to stay away from her sister. Joey brags that he cannot guarantee she'll stay away from him. Kat gets upset and begins drinking, leading her to dance drunkenly on a table. Meanwhile, Cameron discovers that Bianca was using him to find a date for Kat so that Bianca could date Joey.

Cameron decides to stop trying to date Bianca, but Patrick convinces him to go for it. Bianca asks Cameron for a ride home after discovering Joey’s true character. Cameron drops her off and tells her that he really likes her and was very disappointed in her. At that point Bianca kisses Cameron. Patrick brings Kat home, and she drunkenly tries kissing Patrick. He suggests they should do that some other time, hurting Kat’s feelings.

The next day at school, Patrick publicly sings "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" to Kat in front of everyone asking her forgiveness, landing him in detention. Kat gets him out of detention by "flashing" the soccer coach. Kat and Patrick spend the day together, and they both realize that they truly do like each other. Patrick, motivated by Joey's bribe of $300, asks Kat to the prom. However, she is suspicious of his motives and they get into a fight.

Bianca tries to convince her father to let her go to the prom, but he refuses, since Kat isn’t going. Bianca confronts Kat. Kat then reveals that she dated Joey and they had sex, mostly because everyone else was doing it. However, when Kat told Joey that she wasn't ready for sex and did not want to do it again, he immediately broke up with her. Even though she forbade Joey to tell anyone of their one time together or else she would tell all the cheerleaders how “tiny” he is, Kat still felt immense rejection, thus spurring her to not do anything ever again just because everyone else was doing it and distanced herself from her peers.

Bianca and Kat end up going to the prom with Cameron and Patrick, respectively. Joey is furious to learn that Bianca has gone to prom with Cameron, and confronts Patrick about the "arrangement" in front of Kat. Kat blows up at Patrick and leaves. Joey subsequently confronts Cameron about manipulating the 'deal' for himself, but after he punches Cameron, Bianca hits Joey three times herself (once for "making [her] date bleed", once for her sister, and once for her), leaving him curled up in pain on the floor with a broken nose and a black eye.

The next morning, Bianca thanks Kat for going to prom and the sisters make up. Kat's father allows her to go to Sarah Lawrence. At school, Kat reads a poem which she wrote for English class, titled "10 Things I Hate About You" (although it contains 14 things she hates about Patrick). While reading the poem, she reveals (in front of the entire class) how hurt she was by what Patrick did and how much she really cares about him ("But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all"). Patrick is shown to be touched by her revelation. In the parking lot, Kat finds a guitar Patrick bought her with the money Joey paid him, and he admits that he messed up their deal by falling for her. Kat forgives Patrick and the two kiss and make up.

[edit] Cast of characters

• Julia Stiles as Katarina "Kat" Stratford: The female protagonist of the story, the "shrew" in the movie, is a proud, nonconforming feminist who listens to riot grrrl music and reads books like The Bell Jar and The Feminine Mystique. She tends to make people upset and angry because she is not afraid of telling it like it is. She is against dating and often "sneers at the idiocy of teenage social life," as The New York Times puts it, and is "a breath of fresh air in the stifling materialistic atmosphere of today's Hollywood teenage movies." She was accepted into Sarah Lawrence College. She has an English literature class, during which she openly contradicts the teacher, with Pat and Joey. Bianca infers that Kat actually likes men after finding a picture of Jared Leto in her dresser. Bianca describes her as being from Planet Loser, having once been popular "until she got sick of it or something" and Cameron refers to her as antisocial. She eventually decides to date again upon meeting Patrick, dedicating her sonnet assignment to him. Her only friend is fellow outcast Mandella.
• Heath Ledger as Patrick Verona: The male protagonist of the story, described by a The New York Times reviewer as a "rough-edged outsider" and "teenage rebel" who hangs out at a pool hall, smokes cigarettes and drinks. He has English literature with Kat and Joey; and biology with Cameron and Michael. He speaks in a partly Australian dialect, often lapsing into American. When Kat inquires if "the accent" is real, he explains to her that he lived in Australia with his mother until he was ten. He is hired by Joey, Cameron, and Michael to take out Kat so that Bianca can be permitted to date, hence his job is to "tame the shrew." At first, he pursues her for the money but later he falls for her, showing a softer side and transforming into a more sensitive person. One of the recurring jokes of the film is the numerous rumors surrounding Patrick's past activities. Other characters reveal that Patrick supposedly (among other things): once ate a live duck, set a State Trooper on fire, did a year in San Quentin Prison, sold his liver on the black market for a new set of speakers, knows Marilyn Manson, slept with a Spice Girl, and was a former porn star (In reality he spent the last year looking after his ill grandfather).
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cameron James: A foil of Patrick, they both pursue a Stratford sister and share parallel scenes (e.g., driving a Stratford home from Bogie's party). But while Pat is seen as intimidating and manly; Cameron is seen as sweet and delicate. He is a new kid, has a father in the U.S. army, and befriends Michael and Patrick.
• Larisa Oleynik as Bianca Stratford: Kat's younger sister and foil, seen as a "Valley girl" type, wears designer clothes and is popular in school. She gets caught in a love triangle between Cameron and Joey before realizing Cameron is the man for her. Kat's assertiveness rubs off on her and she punches Joey in retaliation of making a bet to sleep with her and in turn breaking Kat's heart over Patrick.
• David Krumholtz as Michael Eckman: An audio-visual geek who is delegated the task of showing Cameron around, which he uses as an opportunity to seek revenge on the group of aspiring MBA's which he led until he was kicked out for getting Izods from outlet stores. Grossly unsuccessful with girls, he does manage to hook up with Kat's friend Mandella by appealing to her love of William Shakespeare.
• Andrew Keegan as Joey Donner: A male model, who once bedded Kat and makes a bet that he can do the same with Bianca. Instead of warning Bianca, Kat chooses not to date so that Bianca will not be able to date him. He is deceived by the guys that by paying Patrick to date Kat he will be permitted to date Bianca when really it is Cameron who would be dating her.
• Susan May Pratt as Mandella: A Shakespeare aficionado whom Michael, disguised as William Shakespeare, takes to the prom. She is also Kat's best friend.
• Gabrielle Union as Chastity Church: Bianca's best friend, who goes out with Joey after Bianca dumps him for Cameron at Bogie's crashed party.
• Larry Miller as Dr. Walter Stratford: An OBGYN and single father. He sets forth the rule that Bianca may not date until Kat does, however the film fails to address the fact that he changes this rule by consistently forbidding Bianca to so much as attend functions where boys may be if her sister does not accompany her. He is an extremely over-protective father, believing that his daughters will have sex, do drugs, or drink as soon as they aren't under his supervision.
• Daryl Mitchell as Mr. Morgan: The African-American English literature teacher. According to him, Shakespeare knows his stuff, "for a dead white guy". He's an imposing teacher who, for the most part, seems to keep his classroom under control. He doesn't seem to like Kat much and throws her out of class regularly.
• Allison Janney as Ms. Perky: The school's guidance counselor, and a writer of erotic literature. She makes sexual comments and innuendos throughout the film. In the deleted scene, she is shown having sexual relations with Mr. Chapin, the Soccer Coach.
• David Leisure as Mr. Chapin: A teacher and the girls' soccer coach.
• Greg Jackson as Scurvy: One of Patrick's friends.
• Kyle Cease as Bogie Lowenstien: A member of a clique of aspiring MBA's, the new leader after Michael is ejected.
• Kay Hanley and Michael Eisenstein, members of Letters to Cleo
• Monique Powell and Brian Mashburn, members of Save Ferris

[edit] Shakespearean references

The two sisters in The Taming of the Shrew are called Katharina, nicknamed Kat in the movie, and Bianca[1]. Kat and Bianca's last name is Stratford, making reference to Stratford-upon-Avon, the English town known worldwide as the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Katharina's suitor in Shakespeare's play is Petruchio of Verona, who becomes Patrick Verona in 10 Things. In the movie, the high school is named Padua, the city in which Shakespeare's play is set.

Comparison of the two works will also reveal similar plot ideas. For instance, Shakespeare's Lucentio wishes to wed Bianca, but cannot until her sister is married. Knowing that Bianca cannot enter into any relationships, he poses as a tutor named Cambio in order to become closer to Bianca - much as in 10 Things where the similarly-named Cameron takes up French to tutor Bianca. While still posing as Bianca's tutor, Lucentio confers with a somewhat wild character, Petruchio. Like Patrick, he is an out-of-towner and little is known about him. Petruchio agrees to marry Katharine simply for the dowry that comes along with her, allowing Lucentio to pursue Bianca - just as Patrick agreed to date Kat for the money offered to him by Joey.

The characters of 10 Things are unusually verbose, regardless of the cliques to which they belong, which is much in keeping with the style of Shakespeare. At several points the characters also either directly quote Shakespeare or allude to his style of writing in their own speech, typically for comedic value. For example, upon seeing Bianca for the first time, Cameron declares "I burn, I pine, I perish!" Also, when Michael pulls out on his motorbike in front of Kat and she admonishes him, he calls her "the shrew."

The repeated line "Sweet love renew thy force" is from Shakespeare's Sonnet 141.

An additional tie-in to the work of Shakespeare is the fetish that the character Mandella (Susan May Pratt) has for things Shakespearean, including costumes, plays and poetry. In an apparent third (although not quite as developed as the two lead couples in the final film) coupling, Michael falls for Mandella while learning about Kat. The attraction begins when he starts to quote Macbeth to her and she finishes the line. Mandella is told later in the film that William Shakespeare will be her date to the prom. Fulfilling the promise, Michael appears dressed as William Shakespeare. The title of the song "Cruel to Be Kind" performed for the film by Letters to Cleo is taken from a line from Hamlet. Although a Shakespeare aficionado, Mandella appears to be completely oblivious to the extreme parallels between the current events at Padua High School, and "The Taming of the Shrew".

Kat's sonnet to Patrick was a rewriting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 141. Mr. Morgan rapped the first four lines of the sonnet to the class when he set the homework task.

[edit] Production

Exterior shots of principal photography were filmed in Gig Harbor, Tacoma and Seattle, Washington. The high school's exterior was shot at Tacoma's Stadium High School. Bianca and Kat's home in the film is in Tacoma's North End neighborhood, the same neighborhood where the home from The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is located. A brief scene takes place at the Fremont Troll in Seattle, Washington. Katarina and Patrick's date takes place at Gas Works Park in Seattle, Washington. The biker bar that Patrick is shown going into is the Buckaroo Tavern in Fremont, Seattle. The exterior shot was taken at Alki Beach.^[5] The Padua High School Prom was filmed at Seattle's Century Ballroom as well as at the restored Paramount Theatre. The prom sequence was shot over three 90+°F days in Seattle.^[6] The store in which Kat picks out her dream guitar was a Ted Brown Music store in Tacoma, but has since been made into part of the Tacoma School of the Arts.

Costume designer Kim Tillman designed original dresses for Larisa Oleynik and Julia Stiles as well as the period outfits for Susan May Pratt and David Krumholtz. Gabrielle Union's snakeskin prom dress is a Betsey Johnson design. Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's vintage tuxes came from Isadora's in Seattle.^[6]

The primary tagline is an allusion to a poem written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning from her Sonnets from the Portuguese collection. ("How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways.") Another tagline is a spoof from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ("Romeo, Oh Romeo, Get Out Of My Face.") and another is a line from The Taming of the Shrew that is spoken in the film by Cameron ("I burn, I pine, I perish!").

The original script was finalized on November 12, 1997.^[7]

[edit] Release and reception

[edit] Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $8,330,681 in 2,271 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #2 at the box office (lagging far behind The Matrix), and #53 by the year's end. It grossed a total of $38,178,166 in the United States and Canada and $15,300,000 in other territories, about $53,500,000 worldwide. The film had an estimated budget of $30 million and is considered a moderate financial and critical success. On October 12, 1999, the Region 1 DVD was released. In the box-office, the movie is #10 in teen romance, #18 in high school comedies, and #96 in romantic comedies.^[8]

[edit] Critics

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The film accustomed mostly positive reviews from critics. Geoff Andrew from Time Out praised the film's leads, stating "Stiles grows into her character, and Ledger is effortlessly charming".^{[citation needed]} Roger Ebert gave the film 2 and half stars out of four, claiming "I liked the movie's spirit, the actors and some of the scenes. The music, much of it by the band Letters to Cleo, is subtle and inventive while still cheerful".^{[citation needed]} Brad Laidman from Film Threat said the film was "Pure of heart and perfectly executed".^{[citation needed]} Ron Wells, another critic from Film Threat expressed "Of all the teen films released this year, this one is, by far, the best".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Awards and nominations

In the year the movie was released, the lead actors Gordon-Levitt, Stiles, and Oleynik each received YoungStar Award nominations for Best Actor/Actress in a Comedy Film. The movie was nominated for five Teen Choice Awards: Film Breakout Performance (Stiles), Film Choice Comedy, Film Funniest Scene (featuring Krumholtz), Film Sexiest Love Scene (featuring Stiles and Ledger), and Soundtrack of the Year. More notably, the film's casting directors Marcia Ross and Donna Morong won "Best Casting for Feature Film, Comedy" at the Casting Society of America in 1999. In 2000, Stiles won the CFCA Award for "Most Promising Actress" for her role as Kat Stratford (tied with Émilie Dequenne in Rosetta) and an MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Female Performance. The same year, Ledger was nominated for Best Musical Performance for the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You."

[edit] Television series

On October 8, 2008, ABC Family greenlit the pilot episode of a new half-hour, single-camera comedy series based on 10 Things I Hate About You. Though the film version was an updated take of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, it appears as though the series will focus largely on sisters Kat and Bianca Stratford, who must juggle their social lives at Padua High, boys, and their overprotective father, but approach life differently, as Kat is impatient to make a difference in the world, is strong-willed and feminist, while Bianca is more concerned with her looks and popularity. According to the ABC website summary, the back story of the Stratford sisters and their peers will be significantly different from the original film. Where the film has Kat becoming a feminist after a bad sexual encounter with a schoolmate, the TV show has the sisters moving to a new school (as opposed to Cameron, the new guy in the film) with their movie personalities already in place. Larry Miller will be the only actor from the movie to reprise his role in the television series.

The director of the film, Gil Junger, will also direct the pilot of the television series, which is being written and produced by Carter Covington.^[9] The show premiered on July 7, 2009.^[10]

[edit] Cast

• Lindsey Shaw as Kat Stratford
• Meaghan Jette Martin as Bianca Stratford
• Ethan Peck as Patrick Verona
• Larry Miller as Dr. Walter Stratford
• Nicholas Braun as Cameron James
• Kyle Kaplan as Michael Bernstein
• Dana Davis as Chastity Church
• Chris Zylka as Joey Donner

[edit] Soundtrack

[edit] See also

• List of American films of 1999
• William Shakespeare
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Romeo + Juliet

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: 10 Things I Hate About You

• 10 Things I Hate About You at the Internet Movie Database
• 10 Things I Hate About You at Allmovie
• 10 Things I Hate About You at Box Office Mojo
• 10 Things I Hate About You at the TCM Movie Database
• 10 Things I Hate About You at Rotten Tomatoes
• Yahoo! Movies: 10 Things I Hate About You
• 10 Things I Hate About You - Transcript
• Kat's 'Hate' Poem from AmericanRhetoric.com
• CNN Review: '10 Things I Hate About You' worth loving (1999-03-31)

v • d • e 10 Things I Hate About You Film: 10 Things I Hate About You Television show: 10 Things I Hate About You (TV series)  • List of Episodes Seasons: Season 1

v • d • e Films of Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith Written 10 Things I Hate About You • Legally Blonde • Ella Enchanted • She's the Man • The House Bunny • The Ugly Truth • Bride Wars Written & produced The House Bunny

v • d • e Films directed by Gil Junger 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) · Black Knight (2001) · If Only (2004) · Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control (2008)