Julia Stiles Says She Felt “So Slimy” During Harvey Weinstein-Led Reshoots for ‘Down to You’

Julia Stiles is recalling working with Harvey Weinstein on a movie she says was “executed very poorly.”

The actress appeared on a recent episode of the Films To Be Buried with Brett Goldstein podcast, where she opened up about feeling “so slimy” during reshoots for her 2000 teen rom-com Down to You.

“It was a time when teen rom-coms were really popular,” she explained. “The director [Kris Isacsson] wrote the script. He was a first-time director and he was a very, very intelligent, capable guy. The script was very good. And then Harvey Weinstein got his hands on it and decided to capitalize on this trend. And it just became dumb.”

Stiles claimed the disgraced movie mogul and convicted sex offender was looking to capitalize on her past successful projects by adding in unnecessary scenes.

“They’re pouring money at it in stupid ways,” she said. “So when we went and did reshoots, and I’m told that he [Weinstein] decided that because of the success of Save The Last Dance or the success of 10 Things I Hate About You with me dancing on the pool table, he needed to have me dancing in the film.”

While The Lake actress admitted she would “make a whole movie dancing,” it just didn’t make sense for the film’s storyline or her character Imogen.

“I love to dance, but it was dumb. It was like, ‘Okay, let’s get her on a pool table.’ It wasn’t even imaginative,” Stiles added. “And I felt so slimy doing it the whole time. I don’t know if that actually made it in the film, but it was annoying, ’cause I was like, this is so cheap and it’s not adding to the story.”

Down to You, which also starred Freddie Prinze Jr., follows college students Al (Prinze) and Imogen who meet and fall in love, but fear of commitment causes them to go their separate ways.