Julia Stiles Is ‘Grateful’ for Fame But ‘It Can Be a Little Scary

Julia Stiles appreciates her fame — but the limelight still comes with its challenges.

“Right now, I try to look at it as something that I’m grateful for because it allows me a lot of opportunities,” Stiles, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly on the red carpet at the Gotham Awards on Monday, December 2. “One of the reasons I got to direct my first feature is because people know me as an actress from movies.”

She added, “It can be a little scary, don’t get me wrong, but I try to focus on the positive aspects of it.”

Stiles will make her directorial debut with Wish You Were Here, which comes out early next year. The romantic drama is based on the bestselling book by Renee Carlino and follows the story of Charlotte, a woman who, while searching for a spark, spends a whirlwind night of romance with a stranger. When she discovers that he is terminally ill, she commits to helping him spend his last days living life to the fullest. Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, Gabby Kono, Jimmie Fails, Kelsey Grammer and Jennifer Grey also star, with Stiles also serving as cowriter.

Related: ‘10 Things I Hate About You‘ Turns 25: Where Are the Stars Now?

The beloved 10 Things I Hate About You made its debut on March 31, 1999, and more than two decades later, fans are still talking about the romantic comedy. Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger played star-crossed lovers Kat Stratford and Patrick Verona, respectively. The pair reluctantly fell in love with each other amid a backdrop […]

“It has been a career-long dream of mine to direct a movie. It took me about five years from reading the book to finally being in production, and it was extraordinary,” Stiles told Us. “I loved every minute of it.”

Stiles added that while she thought her long career on-screen credits like 10 Things I Hate About You, Silver Linings Playbook, Save the Last Dance, The Prince and Me, Hustlers and more would have prepared her for working behind the camera, she quickly realized there were still new things she had to learn.

“When we were actually filming, I was able to be on set and think, ‘Oh yeah, I know how to do this,’ because I’ve been on a bazillion movie sets,” she explained. “[Wish You Were Here] is a love story, and even in the five years it took to get it made, it feels even more relevant now. We need a movie like this more than ever because it’s so hopeful about connection and falling in love.”

Related: Zach Braff! Olivia Wilde! Ben Affleck! Hollywood Actors Turned Directors

Lights, camera, action! From Denzel Washington to Ben Affleck, many actors seamlessly made the switch from being in front of the camera to behind it — but it wasn’t always as easy as it looked. While making her 2019 directorial debut, Booksmart, Olivia Wilde remembered getting really “terrible advice” from a fellow actor turned director […]

Although she’s been acting since the early ‘90s, Stiles told Us there is one movie in her filmography she thinks is the most underrated.

“I’m always happy when, occasionally, somebody will say, ‘Oh, I saw that movie It’s a Disaster that you were in,’” she said. “I thought it was such a hilarious script. I’m always excited when people tell me that they’ve seen it.”

Wish You Were Here will be released early next year.

With reporting by Antonio Ferme