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, was a breakout success for stars Stiles and Ledger,, the one of the films for veteran child stars Oleynik and Gordon-Levitt before they transitioned to adult roles, the debut film for Junger, and the debut film for Lutz and Smith who later wrote the screenplay for a second Shakespeare teen comedy, She's the Man.

Premise

A new boy in school, Cameron, likes the ever sought-after Bianca. However, her father has decreed that she may not date until her sister, Kat, does. Cameron convinces the popular model Joey to pay outsider Patrick Verona to take out the ill-tempered Kat, so that he can take Bianca out. Joey thinks Bianca is going to go out with him, and it all culminates at the prom.

Plot summary

The movie opens with Kat Stratford, the "shrew" of the movie, who is widely known as an ill-tempered, outspoken outcast who hates everything. The guidance counselor, Ms. Perky, welcomes Cameron James, a new kid, to Padua. After casually bumping into Patrick, who has yet another appointment with the counselor due to behavioral issues, Cameron is later greeted by Michael, a former leader of a group of Ivy League-accepted students who seeks revenge for having been expelled from their clique.

Michael gives Cameron a tour of the school, including information on the various cliques. Cameron spots the popular and beautiful Bianca Stratford and is immediately smitten with her, but Michael warns him that the Stratford sisters are not allowed to date, and adds that she is shallow and conceited. Then Michael reveals that Bianca is looking for a French tutor.

Back at the Stratford residence, a letter comes for Kat to inform her that she has been accepted into Sarah Lawrence College, much to her father's dismay as he wants her to go to a college nearby. Kat then reveals to her father that Joey (who was dared by his friends to get Bianca to sleep with him) had given Bianca a ride home. Bianca begs her father to allow her to date, but her father, being overly protective of his youngest daughter, refuses.

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 after many failed attempts to ask her out, Bianca tells him about her father's rule. When Cameron tells her that many guys would be willing to date her sister, Bianca is thrilled, and so Cameron and Michael set out to find a boy who is not afraid of courting Kat.

Cameron suggests an outcast named Patrick Verona, who's just as ill-tempered as Kat. Cameron tries asking Patrick for his assistance, but Patrick scares him off. Joey pays Patrick to take out Kat, but his attempts to win her continue to fail. Cameron and Michael finally explain the whole situation to him, and inform him that Bogie Lowenstien is throwing a party, (although it is really a small gathering for Michael's former Ivy League friends). Cameron and Michael spread the word that Bogie's party will be filled with beer and dancing.

Cameron and Bianca continue to struggle with getting Kat to go out with Patrick. At the party, Kat tells Joey to stay away from her sister, but Joey tells her that he cannot guarantee she'll stay away from him. This upsets Kat and she begins drinking, leading to her drunkenly dancing on a table. Meanwhile, Cameron finally figures out that Bianca never wanted him.

Cameron calls the whole thing off, but Patrick convinces him to go for it. Bianca also realizes that Joey is not the guy she thought he was, and asks Cameron for a ride home. Once Cameron drops her off he tells her that he really likes her and Bianca kisses him.

Patrick brings Kat home, and she drunkenly tells him he is not as bad as she thought he was. Kat tries kissing Patrick, Patrick suggests they should do that some other time, and Kat leaves, hurt. The next day, Patrick publicly sings a song to Kat in front of everyone in school to get her to forgive him, which lands him in detention. Kat gets him out of detention by "flashing" the coach of their soccer team.

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, tries to convince her to go to the prom with him. However, she is suspicious of his motives and they get into a fight. Meanwhile, Bianca is frustrated that Cameron still has not asked her out.

Bianca tries to convince her father to let her go to prom, but since Kat is not going, he says that she cannot either. Bianca confronts Kat, who reveals that she dated Joey and they had sex. When she told Joey afterward that she wasn't ready he immediately broke up with her. The only reason this is never told by Joey is because Kat threatened to tell the entire cheerleading team how "tiny" he is. Bianca gets mad but Kat tells her she just wanted to protect her.

Bianca and Kat end up going to the prom with Cameron and Patrick. 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.

The next morning, Bianca thanks Kat for going to prom and the sisters make up. Kat's father gives her his consent to go to Sarah Lawrence. At school, Kat reads her poem "10 Things I Hate About You" that she wrote for English class, and walks out of class crying. In the parking lot Kat finds that Patrick has bought her the guitar she had admired with the money he was paid by Joey. Kat forgives Patrick, and the two kiss and make up.

Characters

• Katarina "Kat" Stratford (Julia Stiles)

The female protagonist of the story, the "shrew" in the movie, is a proud, nonconforming feminist who likes to listen to riot grrl music and read books like The Bell Jar and The Feminine Mystique. She tends to make people cry because she is not afraid of telling things 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 is known to contradict the teacher, with Pat and Joey. Bianca has stated that Kat 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.

• Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger)

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 alcohol. He has English literature with Kat and Joey; and biology with Cam and Michael. He speaks in a partly Australian dialect, often lapsing in 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, Cam, 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 persona.

• Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

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; Cam is seen as sweet and delicate. He is a new kid, has a father in the U.S. army, and befriends Michael and Patrick.

• Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik)

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 Cam 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.

• Michael Eckman (David Krumholtz)

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.

• Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan)

A male model, he once had an affair with Kat and now seems to want to do the same with Bianca. Instead of warning Bianca, Kat chooses not to date so that Bianca will not have to date him. He is deceived by the guys that by paying Pat to date Kat he will be permitted to date Bianca when really it is Cameron who would be dating her.

• Mandella (Susan May Pratt) A Shakespeare aficionado who Michael, disguised as William Shakespeare, takes to the prom.
• Chastity (Gabrielle Union) Bianca's friend, she goes out with Joey after Bianca dumps him for Cameron at Bogie's crashed party.
• Dr. Walter Stratford (Larry Miller) A gynecologist, single father who is very protective toward his daughters.
• Mr. Morgan (Daryl Mitchell) The English literature teacher.
• Ms. Perky (Allison Janney) The school's guidance counselor.
• Mr. Chapin (David Leisure) A teacher and the women's soccer coach.
• Scruvy (Greg Jackson) One of Patrick's friends.
• Bogie Lowenstien (Kyle Cease) 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

Shakespearean references

The two sisters in The Taming of the Shrew are called Katharine and Bianca, while the two sisters in 10 Things are named Katarina, known as Kat, and Bianca. 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 Katharina 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."

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.

The Shakespeare references continue when Kat is assigned to write her own version of Shakespeare's Sonnet 141. Her poem becomes "10 Things I Hate About You."

Comparison between the characters of Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things
Actor/Actress	Character	Taming of the Shrew counterpart(s)
Julia Stiles	Katarina "Kat" Sratford	Katherina "Kate"
Heath Ledger	Patrick Verona	Petruchio
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	Cameron James	Lucentio/Cambio
Larisa Oleynik	Bianca Stratford	Bianca
David Krumholtz	Michael Eckman	Tranio/Biondello
Andrew Keegan	Joey Donner	Hortensio
Larry Miller	Walter Stratford	Baptista Minola
Gabrielle Union	Chastity	A Widow
Greg Jackson	Scurvy	Grumio/Curtis/Nathaniel/Joseph

• Taming of the Shrew main characters omitted in 10 Things: Christopher Sly, Bartholomew, Vincentio, Gremio, A Pedant, Litio.

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 exclusive 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. 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.

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.

The primary tagline is an allusion to a poem written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning called Sonnets from the Portuguese (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 pine, I perish!).

Reception

Box-office performance

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 $53,478,166 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 #9 in teen romance, #18 in high school comedies, and #93 in romantic comedies.

Critical reaction

10 Things was one of several modern adaptation feature films based upon classic literature released in the 1990s and 2000s period. The movie was coincidentally released two weeks prior to the Columbine High School massacre and as a result a Salon reviewer felt that it was a lighthearted alternative and offered a positive outlook to the high school experience as opposed to the tragedy that occurred in Littleton, Colorado.

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."

Soundtrack

References

See also

• The Taming of the Shrew

External links

• 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)

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, was a breakout success for stars Stiles and Ledger,, the one of the films for veteran child stars Oleynik and Gordon-Levitt before they transitioned to adult roles, the debut film for Junger, and the debut film for Lutz and Smith who later wrote the screenplay for a second Shakespeare teen comedy, She's the Man.

Premise

A new boy in school, Cameron, likes the ever sought-after Bianca. However, her father has decreed that she may not date until her sister, Kat, does. Cameron convinces the popular model Joey to pay outsider Patrick Verona to take out the ill-tempered Kat, so that he can take Bianca out. Joey thinks Bianca is going to go out with him, and it all culminates at the prom.

Plot summary

The movie opens with Kat Stratford, the "shrew" of the movie, who is widely known as an ill-tempered, outspoken outcast who hates everything. The guidance counselor, Ms. Perky, welcomes Cameron James, a new kid, to Padua. After casually bumping into Patrick, who has yet another appointment with the counselor due to behavioral issues, Cameron is later greeted by Michael, a former leader of a group of Ivy League-accepted students who seeks revenge for having been expelled from their clique.

Michael gives Cameron a tour of the school, including information on the various cliques. Cameron spots the popular and beautiful Bianca Stratford and is immediately smitten with her, but Michael warns him that the Stratford sisters are not allowed to date, and adds that she is shallow and conceited. Then Michael reveals that Bianca is looking for a French tutor.

Back at the Stratford residence, a letter comes for Kat to inform her that she has been accepted into Sarah Lawrence College, much to her father's dismay as he wants her to go to a college nearby. Kat then reveals to her father that Joey (who was dared by his friends to get Bianca to sleep with him) had given Bianca a ride home. Bianca begs her father to allow her to date, but her father, being overly protective of his youngest daughter, refuses.

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 after many failed attempts to ask her out, Bianca tells him about her father's rule. When Cameron tells her that many guys would be willing to date her sister, Bianca is thrilled, and so Cameron and Michael set out to find a boy who is not afraid of courting Kat.

Cameron suggests an outcast named Patrick Verona, who's just as ill-tempered as Kat. Cameron tries asking Patrick for his assistance, but Patrick scares him off. Joey pays Patrick to take out Kat, but his attempts to win her continue to fail. Cameron and Michael finally explain the whole situation to him, and inform him that Bogie Lowenstien is throwing a party, (although it is really a small gathering for Michael's former Ivy League friends). Cameron and Michael spread the word that Bogie's party will be filled with beer and dancing.

Cameron and Bianca continue to struggle with getting Kat to go out with Patrick. At the party, Kat tells Joey to stay away from her sister, but Joey tells her that he cannot guarantee she'll stay away from him. This upsets Kat and she begins drinking, leading to her drunkenly dancing on a table. Meanwhile, Cameron finally figures out that Bianca never wanted him.

Cameron calls the whole thing off, but Patrick convinces him to go for it. Bianca also realizes that Joey is not the guy she thought he was, and asks Cameron for a ride home. Once Cameron drops her off he tells her that he really likes her and Bianca kisses him.

Patrick brings Kat home, and she drunkenly tells him he is not as bad as she thought he was. Kat tries kissing Patrick, Patrick suggests they should do that some other time, and Kat leaves, hurt. The next day, Patrick publicly sings a song to Kat in front of everyone in school to get her to forgive him, which lands him in detention. Kat gets him out of detention by "flashing" the coach of their soccer team.

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, tries to convince her to go to the prom with him. However, she is suspicious of his motives and they get into a fight. Meanwhile, Bianca is frustrated that Cameron still has not asked her out.

Bianca tries to convince her father to let her go to prom, but since Kat is not going, he says that she cannot either. Bianca confronts Kat, who reveals that she dated Joey and they had sex. When she told Joey afterward that she wasn't ready he immediately broke up with her. The only reason this is never told by Joey is because Kat threatened to tell the entire cheerleading team how "tiny" he is. Bianca gets mad but Kat tells her she just wanted to protect her.

Bianca and Kat end up going to the prom with Cameron and Patrick. 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.

The next morning, Bianca thanks Kat for going to prom and the sisters make up. Kat's father gives her his consent to go to Sarah Lawrence. At school, Kat reads her poem "10 Things I Hate About You" that she wrote for English class, and walks out of class crying. In the parking lot Kat finds that Patrick has bought her the guitar she had admired with the money he was paid by Joey. Kat forgives Patrick, and the two kiss and make up.

Characters

• Katarina "Kat" Stratford (Julia Stiles)

The female protagonist of the story, the "shrew" in the movie, is a proud, nonconforming feminist who likes to listen to riot grrl music and read books like The Bell Jar and The Feminine Mystique. She tends to make people cry because she is not afraid of telling things 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 is known to contradict the teacher, with Pat and Joey. Bianca has stated that Kat 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.

• Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger)

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 alcohol. He has English literature with Kat and Joey; and biology with Cam and Michael. He speaks in a partly Australian dialect, often lapsing in 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, Cam, 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 persona.

• Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

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; Cam is seen as sweet and delicate. He is a new kid, has a father in the U.S. army, and befriends Michael and Patrick.

• Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik)

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 Cam 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.

• Michael Eckman (David Krumholtz)

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.

• Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan)

A male model, he once had an affair with Kat and now seems to want to do the same with Bianca. Instead of warning Bianca, Kat chooses not to date so that Bianca will not have to date him. He is deceived by the guys that by paying Pat to date Kat he will be permitted to date Bianca when really it is Cameron who would be dating her.

• Mandella (Susan May Pratt) A Shakespeare aficionado who Michael, disguised as William Shakespeare, takes to the prom.
• Chastity (Gabrielle Union) Bianca's friend, she goes out with Joey after Bianca dumps him for Cameron at Bogie's crashed party.
• Dr. Walter Stratford (Larry Miller) A gynecologist, single father who is very protective toward his daughters.
• Mr. Morgan (Daryl Mitchell) The English literature teacher.
• Ms. Perky (Allison Janney) The school's guidance counselor.
• Mr. Chapin (David Leisure) A teacher and the women's soccer coach.
• Scruvy (Greg Jackson) One of Patrick's friends.
• Bogie Lowenstien (Kyle Cease) 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

Shakespearean references

The two sisters in The Taming of the Shrew are called Katharine and Bianca, while the two sisters in 10 Things are named Katarina, known as Kat, and Bianca. 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 Katharina 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."

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.

The Shakespeare references continue when Kat is assigned to write her own version of Shakespeare's Sonnet 141. Her poem becomes "10 Things I Hate About You."

Comparison between the characters of Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things
Actor/Actress	Character	Taming of the Shrew counterpart(s)
Julia Stiles	Katarina "Kat" Sratford	Katherina "Kate"
Heath Ledger	Patrick Verona	Petruchio
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	Cameron James	Lucentio/Cambio
Larisa Oleynik	Bianca Stratford	Bianca
David Krumholtz	Michael Eckman	Tranio/Biondello
Andrew Keegan	Joey Donner	Hortensio
Larry Miller	Walter Stratford	Baptista Minola
Gabrielle Union	Chastity	A Widow
Greg Jackson	Scurvy	Grumio/Curtis/Nathaniel/Joseph

• Taming of the Shrew main characters omitted in 10 Things: Christopher Sly, Bartholomew, Vincentio, Gremio, A Pedant, Litio.

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 exclusive 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. 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.

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.

The primary tagline is an allusion to a poem written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning called Sonnets from the Portuguese (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 pine, I perish!).

Reception

Box-office performance

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 $53,478,166 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 #9 in teen romance, #18 in high school comedies, and #93 in romantic comedies.

Critical reaction

10 Things was one of several modern adaptation feature films based upon classic literature released in the 1990s and 2000s period. The movie was coincidentally released two weeks prior to the Columbine High School massacre and as a result a Salon reviewer felt that it was a lighthearted alternative and offered a positive outlook to the high school experience as opposed to the tragedy that occurred in Littleton, Colorado.

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."

Soundtrack

References

See also

• The Taming of the Shrew

External links

• 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)