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Julia Stiles performing on Dancing With the Stars

Julia Stiles on Her Dancing with the Stars Tribute to Heath Ledger: “I Know It’s Going to Be Really Special”

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Julia Stiles will honor her 10 Things I Hate About You co-star Heath Ledger on Dancing With the Stars with the song he once sang to her on-screen. For Dedication Night on Tuesday, October 20, she and partner Ezra Sosa are preparing a contemporary dance to Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”

Julia Stiles and partner Ezra Sosa performing on Dancing With the Stars
Julia Stiles and partner Ezra Sosa on Dancing With the Stars. Photo via Dancing with the Stars.

Speaking about the upcoming tribute on October 15, Stiles said: “We’re still, kind of, working it out, but I know it’s going to be really special.”

A Knight's Tale Premiere
Heath Ledger at the Mann Village Theatre in Los Angeles for the May 2001 premiere of Columbia Pictures’ A Knight’s Tale. Photo by Kevin Winter / Getty Images.

The song connects the tribute to the 1999 film’s school-bleacher serenade, when Ledger’s Patrick sings to Stiles’s Kat. Screenwriter Karen McCullah credited Ledger with choosing it: “I think Heath decided that that wasn’t romantic enough, so he chose the Frankie Valli song, which was a much better call.”

Julia Stiles on the Dancing With the Stars dance floor
Julia Stiles competes on Dancing With the Stars. Credit: Dancing With the Stars.

Stiles remembered being surprised by his performance. “The reaction that you see on my face is like a genuine reaction because I didn’t expect this,” she said.

Julia Stiles and dance partner Ezra Sosa on Dancing With the Stars
Julia Stiles and partner Ezra Sosa on Dancing With the Stars. Photo via Dancing With the Stars.

Ledger also left her a goodbye note on Sheraton stationery. Stiles said in 2016 that she’d rediscovered it while moving. Its message read: “Dance like you’ve never heard the music and love like you’ve never been hurt…”

Ledger died on January 22, 2008, at 28. Stiles said they hadn’t stayed in touch after filming, but his death left her shocked. “He was such a force, such a vibrant person,” she recalled.