79 Fun Facts About 10 Things I Hate About You

Which Shakespeare comedy is 10 Things I Hate About You loosely based on?

The Taming of the Shrew is set in the Italian city of Padua, which is why Kat and Bianca's school is called Padua High.

Who directed 10 Things I Hate About You?

Gil Junger was a sitcom director making his first feature; he first said 'absolutely not' to a teen film, then read the script at his agent's urging and loved it.

In 10 Things I Hate About You, which East Coast college accepts Kat, to her father's dismay?

Sarah Lawrence appeals to Kat precisely because it is across the country; Walter wants her at his own old university nearby, yet by the end he has already sent the cheque.

Which screenwriting duo wrote 10 Things I Hate About You?

Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith became friends by phone after Smith read one of McCullah's scripts at work, then started their first screenplay on cocktail napkins the night they met.

What is Kat Stratford's full first name?

The spelling nods to Katherina, the shrew of Shakespeare's original, without copying it exactly.

Who plays Cameron James, the new kid smitten with Bianca?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was already a sitcom star and didn't want to make a high-school romantic comedy; he has since called his 17-year-old self naive or stuck-up for it.

Which actress plays the popular younger sister, Bianca Stratford?

Larisa Oleynik read for both sisters and badly wanted to play Kat; she thinks being relaxed about the Bianca scenes is exactly why she won that part.

The actress who plays Bianca was the title star of which Nickelodeon series?

The Secret World of Alex Mack ended in January 1998, freeing its star to shoot the film that summer; casting recalled how popular the show had made her with young viewers.

Patrick Verona is described as a bad boy from which country?

Australia is where Patrick says he lived until he was ten, his answer when Kat asks whether the accent is real after he debunks the wilder rumours about him.

Who plays Ms. Perky, the school guidance counselor?

Allison Janney was the casting the director says he couldn't wait to work with; months after the film opened she began her Emmy-winning run on The West Wing.

What does Ms. Perky work on at her desk between student meetings?

Racy novels: she hunts for synonyms between appointments, and when Kat mocks her hero Reginald's 'quivering member', the counsellor likes the phrase enough to keep it.

Which actress plays Chastity Church, Bianca's best friend?

Gabrielle Union was in her mid-twenties playing a high-schooler, and recalls steering clear of any mention of Earth, Wind & Fire so she wouldn't give away her age.

The actress who plays Chastity in 10 Things I Hate About You broke through a year later in which cheerleading film?

Bring It On cast her as Isis, captain of a rival squad, and pushed her into the mainstream after supporting parts in two 1999 teen films.

Andrew Keegan's affluent, self-absorbed character aspires to what career?

Model: he has done 'mostly regional stuff' but is rumoured to have a big tube sock ad coming out, as Cameron is told on his first day at Padua High.

Which actor plays Cameron's geeky friend who masterminds the plan in 10 Things I Hate About You?

David Krumholtz wanted to play Cameron, but the director had worked with him on television and knew he could play the neurotic sidekick in his sleep.

The actor who ended up playing Cameron originally auditioned for that role and which other one?

Michael Eckman was the part he really wanted because he found it funnier; the director offered him Cameron instead, and he admits his first reaction was 'ugh'.

What is Walter Stratford's profession?

Obstetrician: Walter defends his dating ban by saying he delivered twins to a 15-year-old that very morning, and he bolts mid-argument whenever his pager goes off.

What condition does Walter attach before Bianca may go out with boys?

Her sister Kat must date too: Walter invents the rule on the spot, sure that Kat's contempt for boys means he will finally 'get to sleep at night'.

In 10 Things I Hate About You, Bianca is in which year of high school?

Sophomore: Bianca complains that she is the only one in her year to be asked to the prom, and she still can't go unless her older sister does.

Who secretly pays Patrick to take Kat out?

Joey Donner pays to clear his own path to Bianca, then pays more to get Kat to the prom; his angry outburst at Patrick there is how Kat learns the truth.

The Stratford sisters' surname nods to what in Shakespeare's life?

His birthplace was Stratford-upon-Avon, one of several such nods: Kat's friend Mandella calls herself 'involved' with the playwright and treasures a picture of him.

Party host Bogey Lowenstein belongs to a clique of aspiring what?

MBAs: the Ivy-bound 'future MBAs' were led by Cameron's guide to the school until Bogey spread a rumour that he bought his Izod shirts at an outlet mall.

After the party, a drunk Kat opens up to Patrick about wanting to do what?

Form a band: driving her home, Patrick guesses it, and Kat shoots back 'No, install car stereos' before admitting he is right and adding, drily, that her father would love that.

Which song does Patrick sing to Kat from the bleachers during her soccer practice?

Can't Take My Eyes Off You was not the first choice: the script began with 'I Think I Love You', and one writer recalls Heath Ledger pushing for something more romantic.

Which song was nearly used for Patrick's bleacher serenade before being dropped as not romantic enough?

I Touch Myself, the Divinyls hit, was in the script for a time; one writer admits it seemed a great idea then but would have been 'way less romantic'.

What briefly halted filming of Heath Ledger's bleacher serenade?

A winded guard needed a nurse: the director told the actors playing security only to try to catch Ledger, who ran with such joy that one of them feared a heart attack.

Heath Ledger's turn as Patrick earned an MTV Movie Award nomination in which category?

Best Musical Performance recognised a scene the director says he barely staged: he told Ledger to do whatever he wanted and promised that the camera would follow.

At the 2000 MTV Movie Awards, Julia Stiles won which prize?

Breakthrough Female Performance crowned a role she landed at 17 after a ten-minute meeting with the director, who phoned the studio at once to say 'Hire this woman'.

How does Kat repay Patrick after the serenade?

She helps him escape detention by distracting the teacher in charge while Patrick climbs out of a window; asked later how, she says she dazzled him with her wits.

Which real band performs at Club Skunk?

Letters to Cleo play Kat's favourite band, and Patrick uses their set to win her round by ignoring her, complaining that she is ruining the show for him.

Which ska band plays the prom in 10 Things I Hate About You?

Save Ferris, a ska-punk band from Orange County, play their own I Know, which made the soundtrack album, and also cover the Isley Brothers' Shout during the prom.

Which Cheap Trick song is covered on the school rooftop over the closing credits?

I Want You to Want Me came out as a single from the soundtrack and failed to chart, even as the rooftop performance became the film's signature closing image.

The Club Skunk band's singer later provided the singing voice for Rachael Leigh Cook in which 2001 film?

Josie and the Pussycats had Kay Hanley sing lead while Cook lip-synced, and its three stars took music lessons so they would look as if they were really playing.

Why is Kat and Bianca's mother missing from their home in 10 Things I Hate About You?

She left the family some years before the story starts; Kat throws it at Walter mid-argument, asking whether he isn't punishing her 'because Mom left'.

What gift does Patrick surprise Kat with in the final scene?

Fender Stratocaster: Patrick buys it with the money he was paid to date her, and Kat warns him he can't just buy her a guitar every time he messes up.

Which real Washington school stood in for Padua High in 10 Things I Hate About You?

Stadium High School so impressed the filmmakers that they moved the whole production from Los Angeles to Washington with about six weeks to go before shooting.

Kat makes her entrance in 10 Things I Hate About You blasting 'Bad Reputation', a song by which rocker?

Joan Jett's anthem drowns out the pop hit playing in the next car, marking Kat as a contrarian before she has said a word.

Filming of 10 Things I Hate About You used a house in the North End of which Washington city?

Tacoma hosted most of the shoot, starting at a craftsman house above Puget Sound; one cast member says they tried every restaurant in town that summer.

In 10 Things I Hate About You, Cameron poses as a tutor of which language to get close to Bianca?

French is a language Cameron doesn't speak when he volunteers: asked whether he knows it, he says 'no, but I will', and he later tells Bianca he learned it for her.

Which film beat 10 Things I Hate About You to first place on its opening weekend?

The Matrix opened the same day; the director heard his film might have made far more without it, and the producer still wishes they had picked another date.

Which habit does Patrick give up to win over Kat in 10 Things I Hate About You?

Smoking tops the list of Kat's dislikes that Cameron and his friend hand Patrick, and at Club Skunk she notices he is no longer wrapped in his usual cloud of smoke.

Bianca says she likes her Skechers but loves her backpack from which fashion house?

Prada is Bianca's proof that liking and loving differ; when Chastity protests that she loves her Skechers, Bianca says that's only because she doesn't own the backpack.

Chastity asks if a person can ever be just 'whelmed'; where does Bianca think it's possible?

In Europe, Bianca guesses, and she has a point: 'whelm' is a real if archaic English verb meaning to engulf or submerge.

In 10 Things I Hate About You, which author does Kat dismiss in class as an abusive, alcoholic misogynist?

Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises is the class text; Kat asks why they aren't reading Sylvia Plath, Charlotte Brontë or Simone de Beauvoir, and is sent to the office.

How does English teacher Mr. Morgan deliver a Shakespeare sonnet to Kat's class?

As a rap: Roger Ebert liked the film's teachers, wrote that the sonnets work 'pretty well' as rap lyrics, and said he expected the album any day.

According to a rumor at Padua High, Patrick once ate which animal alive?

A duck, 'everything but the beak and feet', is one of several tall tales about Patrick; when Kat finally asks him, he dismisses it as hearsay.

Which actress reportedly passed on playing Kat in 10 Things I Hate About You because her mother disliked the script?

Kate Hudson was offered the part, but Goldie Hawn didn't care for the script, and a year later her daughter broke through in Almost Famous instead.

Which future Pearl Harbor star screen-tested for Patrick Verona before Heath Ledger won the part?

Josh Hartnett screen-tested alongside Ledger, but the casting director recalls that Ledger and Julia Stiles simply had the best chemistry together.

What set Heath Ledger apart from the other actors at his audition for Patrick?

He wore a suit, white with a black shirt; a writer recalls he was the only one dressed up, and the director says he was cast before he reached his car.

Julia Stiles says her table dance in 10 Things I Hate About You helped her land which dance drama?

Save the Last Dance's director told her he had seen the scene and realised she could do hip-hop, not just ballet; she says she would never have the nerve to do it now.

Julia Stiles graduated in 2005 with an English degree from which school?

Columbia University made her a neighbour of her ex in her first year: the co-star who played Cameron lived on her dorm floor, and she said they stayed friendly.

Heath Ledger was born in which city?

Perth named the 575-seat main stage of its new State Theatre Centre after him in 2011, and displayed his Oscar in the foyer for the opening.

The writers of 10 Things I Hate About You said they were inspired after watching which 1995 teen movie?

Clueless had turned Jane Austen's Emma into a teen hit, so the pair combed libraries and bookshops for a classic of their own until a friend suggested the play.

Patrick Verona was modeled on Judd Nelson's character in which 1985 film?

The Breakfast Club's John Bender was, to the writers, the iconic teen hero: an outsider who is funny and not what he seems, which became the core of the romance.

The title came from a list one of the screenwriters kept in her high-school diary about whom?

Her boyfriend was called Anthony; they are still friends, and he is proud enough of the link to ring her so she can confirm it to disbelieving relatives.

The writers of 10 Things I Hate About You went on to co-write which 2001 hit?

Legally Blonde was already on their desks when 10 Things reached cinemas, and they wrote its heroine as an underdog who has to prove herself.

The writers later turned which other Shakespeare play into the 2006 comedy She's the Man?

Twelfth Night's Viola became Amanda Bynes's Viola Hastings, who poses as her brother at Illyria Prep, a school named after the play's setting.

Which network aired the 2009 television series based on 10 Things I Hate About You?

ABC Family ordered a pilot of the half-hour comedy in 2008 and premiered it in July 2009, but cancelled it the following spring because of low ratings.

Which 10 Things I Hate About You actor alone reprised a film role in the 2009 TV series?

Larry Miller returned as the overprotective Walter Stratford, joined behind the camera by the film's director, who shot the pilot.

Who played Kat Stratford in the 2009 series?

She was fresh from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide; Meaghan Martin played her sister Bianca.

Which actor played Patrick Verona in the 2009 TV series of 10 Things I Hate About You?

Ethan Peck, grandson of Gregory Peck, took over Heath Ledger's part for television; a decade later he inherited another famous role, playing Spock in Star Trek: Discovery.

The list of Kat's likes handed to Patrick names feminist prose, angry girl music and which cuisine?

Thai food heads the list, which leaves Patrick grumbling that he is expected to buy her some noodles and a book and then sit through bands he can't stand.

At Club Skunk, Patrick wins Kat's attention by name-dropping The Raincoats and which riot grrrl band?

Bikini Kill was a real favourite of one of the film's writers, who says she gave Kat her own love of the band and of indie rock.

Kat's drunken table dance at Bogey's party is set to 'Hypnotize' by which rapper?

Notorious B.I.G. scores a dance Julia Stiles did without the choreographer the director offered; she told him she could dance, and he trusted her.

What unscripted thing did Julia Stiles do while filming Kat's poem scene?

She cried without planning to, and the director, in tears himself beneath the camera, kept that take, the first, for the film.

Which Disney label produced 10 Things I Hate About You?

Touchstone Pictures released it with a PG-13 rating for crude humour and teen drinking; the producer says he sold the script to Disney after Warner Bros. passed on it.

Which author, later co-writer of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, wrote the 1999 novelization of 10 Things I Hate About You?

David Levithan wrote it for Scholastic, where he had started as an intern at 19; he rose to editorial director there while writing novels of his own.

The stage musical of 10 Things I Hate About You, announced in 2025, has a score by which pop artist?

Carly Rae Jepsen knows the stage from the other side: she took over the title role in Broadway's Cinderella in 2014, and this time she works behind the scenes as a songwriter.

Which Dawson's Creek star was considered for Kat before Julia Stiles won the role?

Katie Holmes impressed the casting director, and a Dawson's Creek name would have been easier to sell, but the director asked to cast talented unknowns instead.

Which future Westworld star was cast to lead the unfinished follow-up 10 Things I Hate About Life?

Evan Rachel Wood left after production stalled; the producers sued her for $30 million, and her side replied that they had run out of money to pay her.

In Kat's poem, which of Patrick's belongings does she call 'big' and 'dumb'?

His combat boots come early in the list, after the way he talks and the way he cuts his hair; by the last line she admits she doesn't hate him at all.

In 2024, which rapper posted a clip of Kat reading her poem in response to a rival's diss track?

Drake posted the scene to his Instagram Story with a broken-heart emoji and a wink after Kendrick Lamar's Euphoria, a track listing what Lamar hates about him.

Patrick Verona corresponds to which suitor in Shakespeare's original play?

Petruchio was Heath Ledger's template: he said he borrowed bits of Richard Burton's screen version, then gave Patrick a Jack Nicholson edge with his cheeky smiles.

The closing rooftop performance in 10 Things I Hate About You was filmed from what, despite the cost?

A helicopter swooped at the band on a tiny patch of roof; their singer recalls being warned that every take-off cost $500,000, so nobody dared fluff the song.

Rumor at Padua High says Patrick sold which of his organs to buy new speakers?

His liver, supposedly, which is why Cameron's friend later asks whether he should really be drinking; Patrick's baffled 'What?' shows he hasn't heard his own legend.

The prom sequence of 10 Things I Hate About You was filmed in which city?

Seattle supplied the prom in two pieces: the dance floor is the Century Ballroom on Capitol Hill, while the lobby and staircase Kat flees down belong to the Paramount Theatre downtown.

Patrick jokes that after the guitar, a future apology might even bring Kat which instrument?

A tambourine, 'maybe even one day', is his answer when Kat warns that he can't just buy her a guitar every time he messes up.

Julia Stiles and Andrew Keegan reunited in a 2001 high-school retelling of which Shakespeare tragedy?

Othello became O, set at a boarding school, with Stiles opposite Mekhi Phifer; delays and a change of distributor held it back until 2001.

How does Bianca deal with the boy who bet on seducing her at the Padua High prom?

She punches him, for Kat, for Cameron and for herself; Andrew Keegan says one take really did catch him on the nose, and he thinks it is the one in the film.