Julia Stiles 'crying' at 'DWTS' rehearsals ahead of Heath Ledger tribute: 'Brings back so many memories'

Julia Stiles' tribute to her '10 Things I Hate About You' co-star Heath Ledger on next week's 'Dancing with the Stars' is sure to be teary-eyed. "I was crying in practice today," Styles told me Thursday at the InStyle Imagemaker Awards in Los Angeles. "This is so crazy." Earlier this week it was revealed that […]

Julia Stiles' tribute to her 10 Things I Hate About You co-star Heath Ledger on next week's Dancing With the Stars is sure to be a teary-eyed performance.

"I was crying in practice today," Styles told me Thursday at the InStyle Imagemaker Awards in Los Angeles. "This is so crazy."

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Styles and his professional partner Ezra Sosa will be performing Frankie Valli's 1967 hit Can't Take My Eyes Off You at the DWTS tribute night. In "10 Things I Hate About You", Ledger's character serenades Styles with this song. RELATED STORIES Joe Rogan signs nine-figure Spotify contract extension Apple's latest AirPods Max headphones are getting a rare $120 discount for Prime Day

"I know it's an emotional dedication night, but I thought I'd gotten far enough away from it. Like, oh, it was years ago," Stiles said. "Something about seeing clips of that movie and pictures and hearing my voice and hearing his voice brings back so many memories. It's a lot." Popular in Variety

Julia Stiles' tribute to her '10 Things I Hate About You' co-star Heath Ledger on next week's 'Dancing with the Stars' is sure to be a teary-eyed performance. Last night I asked Julia how the training was going. via @variety #justforvariety #redcarpet pic.

"One of the things I take away from this dedication, one of the things we really hope to do as performers is that people feel something and people care about it. That's what you do, and his memory lives on because it was such a great performance." Stiles said.

Styles also said that "DWTS" producers had been asking him to be on the show for the past two years before he finally agreed to do it.

"I think it would have been 45," he explained. "I was like, 'I'm halfway to 90!' why not Now or never." "I knew there were emotional hurdles I had to overcome on this show, like getting over my nerves, finding my love for performing again, being able to dance in front of an audience, all of that."

And then Styles said, "I was like, 'Yeah, maybe I have to deal with it in front of millions and millions of people.'