In the late 1700s, Catherine is a teenage girl living on a farm in England. Heathcliff is a similar-aged, dark-skinned foundling. Since the publication of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights in 1847, countless readers have imagined their love story as that of the heroine and hero. However, few of those readers will have imagined them as the spitting images of Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Jacob Elordi (Elvis Presley in Priscilla). Emerald Fennell is different from the rest of us, though.
The Oscar-winning writer-director of Promising Young Woman and Saltburn is adapting Wuthering Heights into a movie. Earlier this week, she revealed that two incredibly attractive Australians, one 34 years old and the other 27 years old, would play Catherine and Heathcliff.
Not all comments on the internet have been favorable. Fans of Charlotte Brontë criticized the casting on social media, calling it “disappointing,” “terrible,” and “bizarre.” Clarisse Loughrey, a film critic for The Independent, questioned if anyone had read the novel before making this decision.
To be fair, we have no idea what Fred has in store. Perhaps she’ll update it with disco music and a nude dance performance amid the windswept Yorkshire moors, making it glamorous and irreverent. However, there’s no denying that the casting initially appears essentially.
