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- "10 Things I Hate About You" is now streaming on Netflix.
- The film jump-started the careers of stars Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
- The movie contains many little details that you might've missed, including nods to Shakespeare.
In fair Seattle, where we lay our scene, it's time to take a look back at "10 Things I Hate About You," one of the best '90s rom-coms — and an adaptation of William Shakespeare's comedy "The Taming of the Shrew."
"10 Things" isn't the only adaptation of this work — most famously, the '50s musical "Kiss Me Kate," the '60s western "McLintock!," and the 2003 rom-com "Deliver Us from Eva" are all based on the saga of Katherine, Bianca, Petruchio, and Hortensio. Season two of "Bridgerton" also gave shades of "Shrew" — one of the main characters is even named Kate.
Now that this classic is officially on Netflix, here are some behind-the-scenes secrets, goofs, and references you might not have caught on your first (or 40th) viewing.
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Kat (Julia Stiles) and Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) have the same names as in the play, and Petruchio gets changed to Patrick (Heath Ledger).
Lucentio, on the other hand, gets switched to the way more common Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), which is probably a nod to the fact that Lucentio disguises himself as a Latin tutor named Cambio. Cameron tutors French in the film.
The obnoxious Joey (Andrew Keegan) is a combination of Hortensio and Gremio, though there is also a Joseph in "The Taming of the Shrew."
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Bianca and Kat's last name is Stratford, as in Stratford-upon-Avon, the hometown of Shakespeare himself.
Patrick's last name, Verona, is a nod to the Italian city where Petruchio comes from in the play. Fair Verona is also famously where Shakespeare set "Romeo and Juliet."
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"The Taming of the Shrew" is the only play of Shakespeare's that takes place in Padua, though Benedick in "Much Ado About Nothing" says he's from there.
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Mandella's locker is covered in portraits of the playwright, and Michael, Cameron's friend, played by David Krumholtz, eventually gets her to go to prom with him by writing her a secret note signed "William S."
Mandella is played by Susan May Pratt.
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"10 Things" was released in March 1999.
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It makes sense — in both scenes she appears in, Ms. Perky is simultaneously doing her job and working on an erotic novel.
Ms. Perky is played by future Oscar and Emmy winner Allison Janney. This film premiered six months before she began playing CJ Cregg in "The West Wing," her breakthrough role.
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Lucentio, Cameron's analog in the original play, confesses his love for Bianca to his friend Tranio in act one, scene one.
Cameron declares his love for Bianca to Michael around five minutes into the film.
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Note that student with the mohawk in the back room — he'll pop up again.
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Ms. Perky corrects her by telling her that other students actually call her "heinous."
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They also rock huge belt buckles and 10-gallon hats.
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It's one of two references to the title of the play.
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Merriam-Webster defines rampallian as "a good-for-nothing scoundrel."
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Side note: Kat's really not that bad ... definitely not "wild beast" level.
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In another scene, you can spot Kat reading "The Brontës: Three Great Novels," a compilation of three of the Brontë sisters' most famous works: "Jane Eyre," "Wuthering Heights," and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall."
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In order to get revenge, Michael turns Bogey's sophisticated wine and cheese night into a house-destroying rager. It's his party that Kat, Bianca, Joey, Cameron, Michael, and Patrick all attend.
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Joey repeatedly messes up Bogey's name, which, of course, shows how little respect he has for everyone else around him.
When he messes up Bogey's name to Bianca, her face betrays that maybe she doesn't think Joey's all that.
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Although his name is never said out loud, according to the credits, he's called Scurvy.
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It's located under the Aurora Bridge in Fremont, a neighborhood in Seattle.
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Just a few of the posters visible: posters for Ednaswap (best known for the original version of "Torn"), "RockCrown" by Seven Mary Three, "Whirlygig" by the Lovemongers, and "Mr. Funny Face" by Sprung Monkey.
Sprung Monkey's song "Get 'Em Outta Here" can be heard in the film.
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It closed in 2010, after 72 years of serving the neighborhood.
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The band performs their songs "Come On" and "Co-Pilot." They also have two songs on the soundtrack, covers of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" and Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind," which they perform at prom with Save Ferris.
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It's very easy to miss, but the first person in the door is poor Nigel and his plate of Brie. He's swept into the house with the rest of the party-crashers.
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"A Night at the Roxbury," a film based on the popular "SNL" sketch starring Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan, was released the year before, in October 1998, making it a pretty topical reference at the time.
Their outfits seem to be a reference to another "SNL" duo, the Blues Brothers. Their movie "Blues Brothers 2000," starring Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, was also released in 1998.
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"Cruel to Be Kind" first plays on the radio while Patrick drives Kat home from the party. Letters to Cleo then performs it at prom.
The actual "Hamlet" quote is "I must be cruel only to be kind."
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The sonnet is all about loving someone for who they are inside, not for their beauty or how they try to make themselves appear to other people.
Kat and Patrick learn not to judge each other by their steely exteriors, Cameron learns to love Bianca because of her personality, not her looks, and Bianca chooses Cameron, who's a bit dorky, over the handsome yet horrible Joey.
Mr. Morgan then assigns the class to write their own sonnets in the style of Shakespeare, leading to the titular list of things Kat hates.
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Bailey was the editor of "The National Era," an anti-slavery newspaper.
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Chapin is also the girls' soccer coach and the detention supervisor. He's the teacher whom Kat flashes to help Patrick sneak out of detention.
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These are both real books written by radio host Laura Schlessinger.
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Patrick, predictably, hates it.
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The list includes Max Chernov, whose father, Jeffrey, produced the film, his assistant Chuck Rapp, production assistant Hope Garrison, unit production manager Ross Fanger, and first assistant editor Brett Carroll.
Of course, Patrick's name is on there, too.
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Even though there's a perfectly circular hole through his entire textbook, Cameron has continued using it to tutor Bianca in French, a language he does not speak.
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This is both a nod to Kat's taste in music and the iconic teen films that paved the way for "10 Things."
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This school loves a fight. Maybe it's the same kids who crash through the glass doors at Bogey's party.
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The hyphen is mistakenly between Joseph and Gordon, not Gordon and Levitt.
As a bonus, if you want to see some grade-A bloopers, watch the credits through to the end.