Although director Emerald Fennell’s Emily Brontë adaptation has secured two major stars in Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, the initial announcement of this Wuthering Heights casting has already caused a lot of controversy and backlash. Wuthering Heights is a seminal work of Gothic tragedy penned by Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights follows the multi-generational story of the Earnshaw family. Frequently listed among the greatest novels of all time, its plot is chiefly concerned with the tortured love affair between its heroine, Cathy, and her lover and adopted brother, Heathcliff. Wuthering Heights has several movie adaptations, released to varying degrees of acclaim.

After the mixed reaction to 2023’s mystery Saltburn, Promising Young Woman director Emerald Fennell’s next movie was revealed to be an adaptation of Wuthering Heights. While Saltburn’s ending gained more mixed , with the darkly comic thriller earning a 70% critical average on Rotten Tomatoes whereas Fennell's debut managed a 90% critical rating. Now, the announcement of Wuthering Heights casting alone has resulted in major backlash before the movie’s production had even begun, due to a range of issues.

Jacob Elordi's Heathcliff Casting Has Caused A Whitewashing Controversy

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights Casting Has Proven Divisive

Fennell’s casting of Jacob Elordi as Wuthering Heights’ Heathcliff resulted in accusations of whitewashing as, although his specific race is never named in the text, the character is considered a person of color according to many textual analyzes. Specifically, Heathcliff is heavily implied to be Romani, mixed-race, or possibly North African, and is explicitly referred to as “Brown-skinned.” This is a pivotal plot point, since much of the Earnshaws family’s undisguised disdain toward Heathcliff stems from his racial ambiguity. Heathcliff’s resentment toward his adopted (and possibly biological) father stems from this mistreatment, making this element all the more important.

Heathcliff is “Dark” in of his brooding psychological profile, but academics and casual readers alike argue that Wuthering Heights also makes his skin color clear. He is referred to by a racial epithet aimed toward Romani people and his treatment throughout Wuthering Heights aligns with the abuse faced by ethnic minorities in 1800s England. While The Talented Mr Ripley caused controversy for Fennell upon its release, these allegations of whitewashing are substantially more serious. Complex and problematic as he might be, Heathcliff is one of the literary canon’s most prominent characters of color, albeit ambiguously.

Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi Are Unexpected Choices For Wuthering Heights

Jacob Elordi Strays Far From Emily Bronte’s Heathcliff

Casting Heathcliff as a white man in a major Hollywood blockbuster arguably rewrites Bronte’s story and, at the very least, ignores one of the most popular and subversive readings of Wuthering Heights. Robbie and Elordi’s casting has also been mocked online as a case of "Twitter casting" since the two stars are both popular, attractive, A-list actors, and their existing screen CVs don’t align all that well with the characters they are set to play. It doesn’t help that both Robbie and Elordi are also Australian, as this implies both stars may struggle with the challenge of nailing the unique Yorkshire dialect.

In of age, appearance, and accent, neither of the stars fit the image of Wuthering Heights paints of Cathy and Heathcliff.

Although both Robbie and Elordi have impressed with their American accents in a diverse range of roles, the Yorkshire accent is a lot more distinct and is one that even English actors have historically struggled to handle. Elordi and Robbie are skilled performers, so this issue is a much smaller problem than Elordi’s controversial casting. However, it does cast doubt on the production as, in of age, appearance, and accent, neither of the stars fit the image of Wuthering Heights paints of Cathy and Heathcliff, and Elordi’s Saltburn English accent may not be enough to make up for this.

Emerald Fennell Is A Divisive Choice For Wuthering Heights After Her Previous Movies

The Saltburn Director’s Earlier Projects Left Some Critics Cold

Emerald Fennell’s earlier movies have divided critics, with Saltburn’s ending in particular earning the ire of many. As YouTube creator Broey Deschanel noted in her video on the topic, Saltburn’s story borrowed a lot from director Anthony Minghella’s earlier adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, only for its ending to feature a deeply problematic twist that demonized the working-class. The revelation that Barry Keoghna’s Oliver faked his poverty and childhood struggles to earn Felix’s trust had some unpleasant implications for Saltburn’s dim view of poor characters, which means Wuthering Heights is uniquely unsuited to Fennell’s directorial oeuvre.

Heathcliff was most recently played onscreen by James Howson in 2011's Wuthering Heights.

Similarly, Promising Young Woman’s ending was criticized for the ending's reliance on the police as heroes and the movie’s failure to explore the intersections of class and patriarchal misogyny. As Wuthering Heights is a story rooted in the English class system, Saltburn and Promising Young Woman’s limited or outright problematic stances on class bode badly for Fennell’s adaptation. The casting of a white man as Heathcliff only reinforces these concerns, proving that the adaptation may fail to bring Bronte’s iconic tragedy to life for a new generation. The odd age gap between Robbie and Elordi doesn’t help matters here, either.

Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi's Age-Gap Explained (& Does It Matter?)

Robbie And Elordi’s Ages Makes Their Wuthering Heights Casting More Surprising

Although it is not as divisive and easier to cover up via makeup, lighting, and costuming, the seven-year age gap between Robbie and Elordi is a bizarre casting choice. Robbie is seven years older than Elordi, and both actors are far older than the book’s lead characters. For much of the novel’s story, Cathy and Heathcliff are in their mid-teens. While Heathcliff’s forty-year-old self also plays a major role in the book, this means Elordi is in the unique position of being both too old and too young for most of Wuthering Heights’s story. This is an issue avoided by earlier adaptations.

Other Actors Who Have Played Cathy & Heathcliff - And Were They Controversial?

Cathy & Heathcliff Have Been Played By Numerous Actors Over The Decades

1939’s Wuthering Heights adaptation was critically successful, but this Laurence Olivier vehicle radically rewrote the story by eliding its entire second half. 1970’s version of the movie was more faithful, and its casting of Timothy Dalton was largely uncontroversial five and half decades ago. 1992’s Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was less successful, earning largely negative reviews thanks in part to its villainous portrayal of both Cathy and Heathcliff. 2011’s critically acclaimed Wuthering Heights was the first to cast an actor of color, James Howson, as Heathcliff. Director Andrea Arnold later stated that she was unsatisfied with the finished film.

Will The Wuthering Heights Backlash Hurt Emerald Fennell's Movie?

Controversies Hurt and Helped Fennell’s Earlier Movies

It is tough to tell whether the controversy over Wuthering Heights will help or hinder Fennell’s film, as the director’s earlier efforts have benefited from and been plagued by controversy. Saltburn became a viral sensation before it was even released due to early reviews focusing on its wild, hedonistic tone, but its box office performance was underwhelming and Saltburn was ignored by the Oscars. Promising Young Woman was a hit but suffered backlash as debate raged online over whether Fennell’s debut was overrated. As such, it is tough to tell how the Wuthering Heights adaptation will be impacted by Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie's controversial casting.

Sources: BBC

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Broey Deschanel (via YouTube)