“I had a year where I sat around and declined generous offers to do more teen movies. I was literally living off Ramen noodles and water just because I was sticking to my guns.”
— Heath Ledger
Vanity Fair, August 2000. Said about the year after '10 Things I Hate About You', when he refused every studio offer for similar teen roles.
After '10 Things I Hate About You' studios called with easy money and easy roles. I turned them all down. Not because I was rich. I was eating ramen and wondering how to pay rent. But taking the wrong role felt worse than being broke. I moved to a tiny apartment and waited. Months passed. The phone kept ringing with the same garbage. I kept saying no. Integrity has a price and most people don't pay it. That year of saying no taught me more about who I was than any role I ever played.