Move over Barbie, because the “Wuthering Heights” press tour has finally kicked off. This means we’re getting Margot Robbie hitting the red carpet in gothic glamour, viral quotes about how she and Jacob Elordi became “co-dependent” during filming, and endless discussions about how faithful the adaptation is to the 1847 novel.
Director Emerald Fennell recently spoke about her decision to put the film’s title in quotation marks, explaining that this is because her movie isn’t an exact replica of the source material.
“You can’t adapt a book as dense and complicated and difficult as this book. I can’t say I’m making Wuthering Heights. It’s not possible,” Fennell told Fandango.
“What I can say is I’m making a version of it. There’s a version I remembered reading, which isn’t quite real, and there’s a version where I wanted stuff to happen that never happened. So it is Wuthering Heights, and it isn’t.”
Emerald Fennell addresses casting controversy
In her latest interview ahead of the film’s Australian premiere on February 12, Fennell has addressed the controversy surrounding her decision to cast Elordi in the film over a person of colour (POC).
In the book, Elordi’s character Heathcliff’s ethnicity is intentionally ambiguous. He is initially described as a “dark-skinned gipsy” and “a Lascar” — which means a sailor from India or Southeast Asia — but is later said to be “pale” and “as white as the wall behind him”.
The character has predominantly been played by a white actor in previous screen and stage adaptations, including Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Ralph Fiennes, Cliff Richard and Tom Hardy, but Elordi’s casting in the upcoming film sparked controversy nonetheless.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the controversy at the Hollywood premiere on Wednesday, Fennell stuck to her explanation that “Wuthering Heights” is simply a version of the book that she remembered reading as a teenager.
“I think the thing is everyone who loves this book has such a personal connection to it, and so you can only ever make the movie that you sort of imagined yourself when you read it,” she said. “I don’t know, I think I was focusing on the pseudo-masochistic elements of it.
“The great thing about this movie is that it could be made every year and it would still be so moving and so interesting. There are so many different takes. I think every year we should have a new one.”
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie react to controversy
Elordi also spoke about the changes to the iconic story at the film’s premiere, telling The Hollywood Reporter that “there are inverted commas for a reason”.
“This is Emerald’s vision, and these are the images that came to her head at 14 years old; somebody else’s interpretation of a great piece of art is what I’m interested in — new images, fresh images, original thoughts,” he said.
Meanwhile, Robbie previously addressed the casting controversy back in December, telling British Vogue that she understands the online commentary but thinks viewers will change their minds once they see it.
“Trust me, you’ll be happy,” she said. “It’s a character that has this lineage of other great actors who’ve played him, from Laurence Olivier to Richard Burton and Ralph Fiennes to Tom Hardy. To be a part of that is special. He’s incredible and I believe in him so much. I honestly think he’s our generation’s Daniel Day-Lewis.”
Comparing Elordi to Day-Lewis is a huge call, but also somewhat understandable given his recent Oscar nomination for Frankenstein. We’ll have to wait and see if the Aussie actor can bring the same level of acting prowess in the upcoming third season of Euphoria, but you can bet the series will create just as much controversy as “Wuthering Heights”, if not more.
