Wuthering Heights fans have slammed Emerald Fennell’s upcoming adaptation of the classic, hitting out at her ‘weird’ and ‘terrible’ casting of Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff – and claiming that the director has ‘not read’ the Emily Brontë novel.
Many have taken to social media to express their ire with the choice to use two stars who ‘look like they belong on Instagram’ in a film set during the 1800s.
Others were also baffled that Catherine – who is, at her eldest, around 19 years old in the book, being played by 34-year-old Margot while Heathcliff, who is roughly 40 by the end of the novel, being portrayed by Jacob, 27.
Elsewhere, social media hit out at the ‘whitewashing’ of the romantic lead – as Heathcliff is often described to be ‘dark skinned’ and is subject to ‘racist abuse’.
‘Guys I can ONLY assume that Emerald Fennell isn’t actually adapting Wuthering Heights, she’s just using it as inspiration and it’s loosely based on and the only similarities are the characters’ names and it’s set in this time period and it’s a different story entirely right?’ one joked.
Another wrote: ‘Truly the worst casting I’ve ever perceived, I’m gagged by how Emerald Fennell is committed to never serving.’
A third quipped: ‘Looking forward to hearing those distinctive Yorkshire twangs!’
Elsewhere, a comment begged for ‘new actors please’.
News that Margot and Jacob are set to play the lead roles in Emerald’s adaptation was revealed today by Deadline.
Margot’s LuckyChap company is on board to produce the film. LuckyChap also produced two of Emerald’s other movies: Saltburn and Promising Young Woman.
The film is currently in pre-production, and will shoot in the United Kingdom next year.
No plot details have yet been revealed.
Margot and Jacob are familiar with each other, as they star in the new short film, See You at 5, directed by Call Me by Your Name‘s Luca Guadagnino, for the new Chanel No. 5 campaign.
Margot recently gushed about him in a new interview with Harper’s Bazaar, saying, ‘He’s wonderful. And as you said, I worked with him on Saltburn in a producer-actor capacity. So I haven’t shared the screen with him before, but I know I’ve seen him on set, I’ve been around him on set, and he’s just—he’s got an incredible presence.’
‘He’s a movie star—he’s got that charisma. He holds a frame. He’s also really lovely and from the same state that I’m from in Australia. We’re about an hour away from each other, but he’s from Brisbane, and I’m from the Gold Coast.’
‘Even though the whole point of our film is that we cross paths and miss each other, it still felt like we did the campaign together.’
Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, published in 1850, is considered a masterpiece of English literature.
The original story centers around the Earnshaws, the Lintons, and their turbulent relationship with Heathcliff, an adopted son of the Earnshaws.
Heathcliff is one of the most infamous and complex romantic heroes in Western literature, known for his brooding nature and obsession with Cathy.
There have been a number of film adaptions of the book over the years, with perhaps the most well known being the 1939 version directed by William Wyler, and starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier.
The most recent adaption is the 2011 film by Andrea Arnold, starring Kaya Scodelario and James Howson.
Margot recently starred in the blockbuster film Barbie, which grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide and earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
Her next project is Kogonada’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, set for release in May.
The Australian actress is currently awaiting the arrival of her first child with husband Tom Ackerley, 34.
She and her film producer partner also announced last week that they were producing The Sims movie.
Margot and Tom are producing through their LuckyChap Productions company.
Much like Barbie, The Sims is rooted in an iconic franchise, with the first video game debuting in 2000 and has since sold over 200 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time.
The star has continued to work throughout her pregnancy.
Meanwhile Jacob recently portrayed the iconic Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla.
He is also set to star in Justin Kurzell’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.
