Julia Stiles Reflects on the Awkward Table Dance at Harvey Weinstein’s Urging in ‘Down to You’

About 25 years after it debuted in cinemas, Julia Stiles is reflecting on her 2000 picture Down to You as one that was “performed very poorly” — and that is largely attributed to its producer, Harvey Weinstein, according to her.

In a discussion this week on actor Brett Goldstein’s Films to be Buried With podcast, Stiles, 43, stated that Down to You — featuring her alongside Freddie Prinze Jr. when she was 18 — was “performed very poorly.”

Referring to Prinze Jr. as a “fantastic actor,” Stiles mentioned, “It was an era when teenage romantic comedies were extremely popular, and the director penned the screenplay.”

“[Kris Isacsson] was new to directing and was a very, very bright, capable individual,” she explained. “The screenplay was exceptional, and then Harvey Weinstein intervened and chose to exploit this trend.”

She went on: “And it just became foolish. As far as I recall — I haven’t viewed it in ages … and they were throwing money at it, in ridiculous manners.”

Stiles noted that her performances in the 2001 film Save the Last Dance and 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You (where she famously danced on top of a pool table) led Weinstein to desire her to dance in Down to You — with those scenes shot during re-shoots.

“I enjoy dancing but it felt silly. It was like, let’s put her on a pool table … it wasn’t even creative,” she reminisced. “I’ve been told that, due to the success of Save the Last Dance or 10 Things I Hate About You, with me dancing on the pool table — he, like, insisted on having me dance in the film.”

She added: “And I felt so awkward doing it the entire time … It was irritating because it was like, ‘Well, this is so tacky, and it’s not contributing to the narrative.’ “

“Down to You. You can rent it and check. Let me know if the dancing-on-the-pool-table scene is still included, because it was foolish. And we shouldn’t have filmed it,” she concluded.