Preview:
- Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are starring in the new ‘Wuthering Heights’.
- Emerald Fennell is adapting and directing the movie.
- It’ll be based on Emily Brontë’s novel.
Back in July, we learned that Oscar-winning writer/director Emerald Fennellhad set her sights on her latest project, a new adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel ‘Wuthering Heights.’
There was no casting attached at the time, but now Deadline reports that the new movie will mark a dual reunion for Fennell, as she’s landed Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi for the lead roles.
Robbie and Fennell’s collaboration stretches back to the director’s film debut, 2020’s ‘Promising Young Woman,’ in which Robbie was originally going to star, but stepped aside because she felt Carey Mulligan would be a better choice. That was, as it happens, the right move, with Mulligan earning an Oscar nomination.
Still, Robbie and her LuckyChap company produced the movie, and reunited with Fennell for her next film, ‘Saltburn’ (which starred Elordi as wealthy scion Felix Catton). Fennell also worked with Robbie by appearing in ‘Barbie’.
Related Article: ‘Saltburn’s Emerald Fennell to Adapt Emily Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’
What’s the story of ‘Wuthering Heights’?
Brontë’s book, published in 1847 under her pseudonym Ellis Bell, follows Heathcliff (Elordi), an orphan-turned-foster-son who falls in love with the daughter of the family who owns the estate on which he now lives, Wuthering Heights.
After running away, Heathcliff rises up through the ranks of the gentry and exacts revenge on the families — the Earnshaws and the Lintons — who kept him from his true love, Catherine Earnshaw (Robbie).
What previous adaptations of ‘Wuthering Heights’ have there been?
There have been a variety of adaptations of the book in the past, including William Wyler’s 1939 film starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon; Robert Fuest’s 1970 movie with Timothy Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall; Peter Kosminsky’s 1992 film led by Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche and Andrea Arnold’s 2012 effort, starring James Howson and Kaya Scodelario.
On the small screen, 2009 saw a TV miniseries with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley in the lead roles, and series in 1978 and 1998.
And not forgetting Kate Bush’s 1978 song “Wuthering Heights”.
What’s next for Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi?
Robbie will be seen starring opposite Colin Farrell in Kogonada’s ‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey‘, hitting theaters next May.
Upcoming for Elordi is Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ and a TV series called ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North,’ directed by Justin Kurzel.
When will Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ be seen on screens?
The new ‘Wuthering Heights’ is in pre-production and will shoot next year in the UK.
While it has MRC agreeing to stump up the money to produce the film, it has yet to lock down a studio home. Though we can imagine many companies will be happy to snatch this one up given the pedigree of Fennell and Robbie in particular.
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