Kerry Washington Reveals The Boss Move Julia Stiles Pulled While Filming 'Save The Last Dance' In The Freezing Cold—And Fans Are Applauding

For teens and young adults in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a key actress in Hollywood was Julia Stiles, whose characters unapologetically promoted individuality, self-expression, feminism, and human rights.

Though she had roles as young as 11 years old, 10 Things I Hate About You at the age of 18 put her on the forefront of everyone's minds, followed by pivotal roles in Mona Lisa Smile and Save the Last Dance.

Unfortunately for her fans, she began to take a conscious step back, only accepting smaller roles until she disappeared from the public eye almost completely.

Now, at the age of 45, she's reappeared on Dancing with the Stars alongside professional dancer Ezra Sosa, and they've incorporated little Easter eggs that refer back to Save the Last Dance in each of their numbers.

You can see one of their most recent performances here:

Not only are fans applauding Stiles' reappearance, but her Save the Last Dance costar Kerry Washington has been singing her praises, including during her appearance on the Not Gonna Lie podcast with Kylie Kelce.

During the podcast, while talking about Save the Last Dance, Washington mentioned Stiles, who was competing on Dancing with the Stars. Not only was she rooting for her as a talent, but she was rooting for her in what she taught her, now as a film producer herself.

Washington praised:

"Julia has my heart, I’ve known her forever, I think she's killing it, I think she's extraordinary."

"Like, this is a moment. It’s so exciting!”

She also shared her favorite memory from one night filming Save the Last Dance:

“I will tell you my favorite thing, my favorite story about that night."

"We have a brief scene outside the car, when we get out of the car. We shot that scene in Chicago; it was so cold, and the entire crew."

"We had a lot of the same crew members who had shot the film 'Fargo,' and so they’re all in their 'Fargo' gear, like, down coats from head to toe, boots, mittens, ear muffs, masks, like, they’re so bundled up. And we’re in these cute Hollywood nothing outfits; we’re going to the club!”

“So we're doing the scene, we’re doing the scene, we’re doing the scene, and we're freezing."

"You can see the air coming out of our mouths, and my feet, my hands were numb."

"At one point, the director comes up to us and says: ‘You know what, ladies? We just need to go one more time,’ and I learned so much in this moment because it was my very first studio film.”

“Julia looked at the director, and she said: ‘We will go as many times as you want if you take off your coat.'"

"So he was like: ‘OK,’ he took off his coat. That was our last take. He was like: 'This is insane,’ we were like: ‘Yes, it's insane!’”

“It really taught me about advocating for myself on set."

"Just understand what you're putting us through. Like, for a moment, think about us as human beings, right?"

"It was really powerful. And I think about it even as a producer now."

"When I ask an actor to do something, I'm like: ‘Wait, let me make sure that I'm not being unreasonable.’ It was such a powerful moment."

"So, she deserves all her flowers. She's a diva. She's amazing.”

You can watch the segment here:

Fans loved that Stiles advocated for herself and her peers.

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Stiles probably didn't realize what an impression she made on the people around her, but it certainly impacted Washington, who learned to stand up for herself and for the actors she's guiding through her own projects.

There's no telling how Dancing with the Stars will go, but if it's anything like her past projects, Stiles will surely make a lasting impression!