I was mostly embarrassed about 10 Things I Hate About You: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Directed by Gil Junger, 10 Things I Hate About You also launched the careers of Hollywood stars Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles.

As someone who was inclined towards watching arthouse films like Billy Bob Thorton’s Sling Blade and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, Gordon-Levitt said he was initially “not sold” on the 1999 movie.

“I was going to arthouse cinemas and watching movies coming from Sundance (Film Festival) and watching Sling Blade and Reservoir Dogs and Soderbergh and Tarantino, and that’s what I wanted to do.

“I know this sounds weird to say or it sounds like I’m not grateful, (but) I was always a little embarrassed before then. I was mostly embarrassed about 10 Things I Hate About You, to be honest. I was,” the actor told Vanity Fair magazine.

Gordon-Levitt, 39, said when he got an opportunity to work on Sundance films Brick and Mysterious Skin, he felt he was doing “what I wanted to do”.

“They felt like a reflection of me and the art that I liked. When I look back now, I’m kind of equally proud of all those things, but subjectively at that time … it was really meaningful to me,” he said.

The actor, however, added that shooting for 10 Things I Hate About You was an “incredible” experience.

Gordon-Levitt’s latest release is the Netflix film Project Power, which also stars Jamie Foxx, Dominique Fishback, and Rodrigo Santoro.