“I did ask Michelle if this was OK and she said yes,” Julia Stiles told Extra, revealing Michelle Williams’ response to her plans for a Heath Ledger tribute on Dancing With the Stars.
Stiles and professional partner Ezra Sosa performed a contemporary routine on October 20 for Dedication Night, when contestants honored influential people and places in their lives.
Their inspiration was 10 Things I Hate About You, the 1999 romantic comedy in which Stiles played Kat Stratford opposite Ledger’s Patrick Verona.
The judges awarded Stiles and Sosa four nines, giving them 36 points out of 40. Kym Johnson joined the regular panel as a guest judge. Nobody was eliminated, with scores and votes carrying over to the following week’s double elimination.
What Stiles Shared About Michelle Williams
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Stiles discussed the conversation when an interviewer asked what Ledger’s family might think of the dedication. She declined to speak on behalf of his relatives in Australia.
Williams and Ledger met while making Brokeback Mountain in 2004 and welcomed their daughter, Matilda, the following year. They separated in 2007. Ledger died in January 2008 at 28.
In a statement posted before the broadcast and reported by Entertainment Weekly, Sosa said he and Stiles had sought guidance from those closest to Ledger and his memory. He described the aim as honoring a shared moment and the film’s lasting impact.
Five Castmates Joined Stiles in the Ballroom
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The music carried a familiar connection: Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” which Ledger sang to Stiles’ character from the school stadium’s bleachers in the movie.
The routine’s ending also used audio of Kat reciting her poem. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gabrielle Union, Larisa Oleynik, Andrew Keegan and Susan May Pratt then joined Stiles on the ballroom floor.
According to ABC News, Sosa stepped away as the actors linked arms and looked up at a screen displaying Ledger’s photograph.
“I begged them, each and every one of them, and they all rallied,” Stiles told Variety backstage.
The invitations grew out of a discussion with producers about having someone represent the movie. Stiles wanted the group involved, and the actors encouraged one another to participate as calls went around.
David Krumholtz, who played Michael Eckman, could not attend. He explained in an Instagram video that he was filming in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York and could not travel to Los Angeles. He praised the tribute and said he was proud of Stiles.
Ezra Sosa Changed Their Approach During Rehearsals
Preparing the dedication had affected Stiles more strongly than she expected. She initially thought the years since filming would give her enough distance to revisit those memories comfortably.
Instead, movie clips, photographs and the sound of their younger voices brought the experience back. She cried on the first day of rehearsals and struggled to work through what she was feeling.
Sosa noticed the difficulty. Stiles credited him with changing the concept, or the way they thought about the performance, in a way that helped her open up. She said she was grateful for his sensitivity.
Stiles Revisited Kat Stratford’s Look at 45
Stiles wore a blue dress and hairstyle resembling her appearance in the film, an experience she described as strange when speaking to Variety.
She had played Kat at 17. Now 45, she reflected on dancing in front of a television audience and discovering how deeply viewers still cared about the movie. That continued affection was something her teenage self could not have anticipated.
Remembering their time on set, Stiles told ABC News: “He just made everybody else shine. He was always about play.”