Reddit has done it again. In between theories about time travel, why Batman is actually crazier than Joker and whether Alfred is secretly the real hero of Gotham, one DC fan just dropped a gem that has everyone rewatching Joker and 10 Things I Hate About You. User coces on r/FanTheories reckons the now-iconic “descent into madness” scene in Todd Phillips’ Joker isn’t the deep psychological ballet of chaos we thought. It’s actually a cheeky nod to Heath Ledger’s Joker and also the infamous soccer field serenade. And, honestly, the more you look at it, the more it clicks.
“You know the one,” coces writes. “Everything about these two scenes are so similar. From the close up of their hands pressing a button followed by them lowering themselves (Heath sliding down a pole, Joaquin taking the elevator). Then the dancing down the stairs and being chased by two cops/security guards. The little dance they both do while evading the police. C’mon.”
Ledger’s scene, of course, is a cornerstone of ‘90s teen cinema. In 10 Things I Hate About You, Patrick Verona crashes Kat Stratford’s soccer practice with a live, unapologetic performance of Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. It’s ridiculous, but somehow avoids every cheesy trap known to Hollywood. That might be because Ledger actually sang it himself.
Originally, screenwriter Karen McCullah had narrowed the song choices down to two: I Think I Love You by The Partridge Family and I Touch Myself by Divinyls. She’d settled on the latter. Then, on the day of filming, Ledger pushed for the Valli classic instead. “I think Heath decided that that wasn’t romantic enough, so he chose the Frankie Valli song, which was a much better call,” McCullah told The New York Times.
Director Gil Junger had envisioned Ledger channelling Fred Astaire. Instead, Ledger brought something much better: effortless goofiness. “He knew he wasn’t great, and I think that’s the charm of that scene, of course, that it’s bad,” Junger said. “I think he probably went for it in that way, really not being prepared but being as goofy as he could be, running around in the bleachers doing his thing.”
The real magic came from Ledger’s lighthearted approach. “He was running take after take, up and down those steps. I was actually very surprised at Heath’s athleticism while singing because, yes, that was him singing. Like, of course, he could f**king sing too, right?” Junger added. Julia Stiles, who played Kat, didn’t have to act much at all in that moment. “It wasn’t hard to just react to what Heath was actually doing,” she told HuffPost.
The scene went on to snag a Best Musical Sequence nomination at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards and remains cemented in the hall of teen movie greatness.
So, when you put Ledger’s carefree bleacher sprint in 10 Things I Hate About You next to Phoenix’s chaotic stair dance in Joker, the parallels are pretty obvious. Maybe Phillips wasn’t just giving us a gritty villain origin. Maybe he was tipping his hat to one of Ledger’s most unexpected and memorable moments. And that makes it even more special.
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