ABC Family is re-launching the teen comedy hit 10 Things I Hate About You as a weekly TV series. 10 years after the original launched Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles to stardom, the series picks up when the Stratford sisters and Patrick Verona (the Ledger character) move to San Diego.

Ethan Peck plays the new Verona, and he wanted to be clear he's not trying to take over for the late Ledger. "With all due respect I didn't take any inspiration," Peck said. "When I had my first audition, which was in New York, I hadn't seen the film in about 10 years and I went in sort of with something fresh, coincidentally, my own take. I couldn't remember who had played it, actually. I couldn't remember what the character was like. And I think that only worked to my advantage because we are in the end creating something original within an originality, ironically."

The film was based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Now that the series is continuing the story, Peck could do his own version. "I guess you have to see. He's more quiet, he's been referenced as sort of like old school bad boy like Marlon Brando. He sits to the side, crosses his arms, squints a lot, rides a motorcycle. Doesn't say much."

Peck is the grandson of Gregory Peck. Perhaps the legendary performances of grandpa could be more of an inspiration, but Ethan shies away from those too. "I'm ashamed to say I've only seen like five of those. He was very much a grandfather to me, more the father of my father than Gregory Peck, the icon, which he was too, as most people know him. But I think inevitably he inspires me because he inspires me."

10 Things I Hate About You premieres July 7 on ABC Family.



Story/Interview by Fred Topel

Starpulse contributing writer

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