Julia Stiles on Hustlers, nostalgia and her legacy as a '90s teen icon

You might know Julia Stiles best from her roles in a string of romantic teen comedies in the '90s, such as 10 Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance, but since then, she's shifted into more dramatic roles.

When Stiles read the script for her latest film Hustlers, she knew she had to be a part of the project in one way or another. Based on a real story from New York Magazine, called The Hustlers at Scores, the film is about a small group of Manhattan strippers who decide to steal from their wealthy Wall Street clientele after the 2009 stock market crash.

Stiles plays the journalist who wrote the story. The film also stars Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu star as two of the strippers who come up with the devious plan.

She joined q's Tom Power at the Toronto International Film Festival to tell us more about Hustlers and to share a little bit about what she remembers of being a teen idol.

Here is part of that conversation. 

On what attracted her to Hustlers

I had read the article when it first came out in New York Magazine. So when I was sent the script and saw that it was based on that I was like, oh, yeah, I remember that. That was a crazy story. And then I really loved Lorene Scafaria's adaptation of it. I feel like you could tell this story five different ways. I think I was largely inspired by Jessica Pressler, who wrote the New York Magazine article — the character that I play. She cares about her subjects. When I saw Jessica at a screening in New York, I was like, "Congratulations, how do you feel?" She was more concerned about what the women in real life were going to take away from the film.

On her own dance training and whether or not she still dances

Alone in my living room? Sure. All the time. I think that there were versions of the Hustlers script where there were kind of weird dream sequences that I was in. As the journalist and the eyes and ears for the audience, I'm kind of the judge and jury. I think that they had some dream sequences where I would be in the scene dancing when the men were unconscious. I have mad respect for all of the dancers on set because whatever dancing I've done, I've never done in four-inch stiletto platform shoes.

On realizing she wanted to make acting a career

As a teenager auditioning for acting jobs, and then even when I started working more, I would say around 17, I wasn't thinking of a career. It was just something that was fun and interesting to me. But then I think probably in my 20s, and even now, I'm like, oh, actors are truth tellers. There's an expression called l'esprit de l'escalier. I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right, but it's "the spirit of the stairs." It means that thing — if you imagine somebody walking up the stairs and turning around and saying that sort of mic drop moment — the thing that you've always wished that you could say or had the courage to say or do. I think I've discovered now that that's kind of what appeals to me about acting, it's that we act out these things that we wish we had the courage to do in real life.

On the impact of 10 Things I Hate About You

I don't take for granted that people still think about a movie that was made 20 years ago. That's a huge privilege as an actor. So when I did 10 Things I Hate About You, I had been auditioning as an actress, I was 17, and I was so sick and confused by everybody going, "Oh, just be more bubbly and effervescent. Oh, you're so serious. Oh, you're so heady or intellectual." It just was confusing to me as I'm trying to figure out who I am and what people respond to. Then I got sent the script for 10 Things I Hate About You and I was like, yes, this girl is feisty and opinionated and a fish out of water, but not apologetic about it. It spoke to me. So then to be able to do the film and then have people talk about it 20 years later, I'm like, oh, it spoke to other people to.

On receiving hate mail after her roles in Save the Last Dance and O

When I did those movies, I was like, really? This is still an issue? Some people are uncomfortable with the idea of an interracial romance? I was surprised that, yeah, it actually was still provocative. I was at Columbia and the school contacted my parents and said they were getting threats or something. I don't know, I kind of blocked it out. They wanted to have a security detail follow me around. And I was like, that's so awkward. So I just kind of brushed it off and said, no, I'll be fine. Luckily I was, so I don't know how serious it was. I didn't take it very seriously, but it was from a white person who called me the "N-word lover." Something like that, you know, hateful, horrible stuff. Probably the person was crazy. It's disappointing, really, but it's not going to change what I do.

Hustlers just had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It opens in theatres everywhere today.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full interview with Julia Stiles, download our podcast or click 'Listen' near the top of this page.

— Produced by Vanessa Greco