Margot Robbie has defended director Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, which has been facing criticism for casting and alterations. Robbie, who plays Catherine Earnshaw opposite Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff, hailed Fennell’s work as “this generation’s Titanic”, in an interview with Vogue magazine.
Still from Wuthering Heights trailer(YouTube/WarnerBros) Margot Robbie defends Jacob Elordi’s casting as Heathcliff
Emily Brontë had described Heathcliff as a “dark-skinned” man in her 19th-century gothic novel. Several Brontë readers, therefore, slammed the movie’s casting director, Kharmel Cochrane, after she cast Australian actor Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff for Fennell’s adaptation.
Margot Robbie, who claimed to understand the readers’ sentiments, urged them to have faith in Cochrane and Fennell’s decision. “I saw him [Jacob Elordi] play Heathcliff, and he is Heathcliff. I’d say, just wait. Trust me, you’ll be happy,” said The Wolf of Wall Street actress.
The likes of Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Ralph Fiennes, and Tom Hardy played Heathcliff in the past. Robbie explained that it was “special” for Elordi to add his name to “this lineage of other great actors”.
“He’s incredible, and I believe in him so much. I honestly think he’s our generation’s Daniel Day-Lewis,” the 35-year-old added. A person wrote on Instagram that the “casting director should be shot”, Cochrane recently recalled.
She also requested the audience to be patient and trust the director’s creative liberty. “Wait till you see it, and then you can decide whether you want to shoot me or not,” she said.
“It’s just a book. That is not based on real life. It’s all art,” Cochrane emphasized, per The Guardian.
Also read: Wuthering Heights: Here’s all you need to know about Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s 2026 film
Margot Robbie on playing Cathy in Wuthering Heights
Margot Robbie said the depth and complexity of Cathy fascinated her. For Robbie, the character was more like a “puzzle” she had to figure out. “I both understood her and didn’t, in a way that drew me to her. It’s this puzzle you have to work out,” Robbie told Vogue.
Fennell also argued that it was a smart decision to cast the Barbie star as Cathy, who is “wilful, mean, a recreational sadist, a provocateur”.
“It’s difficult to find that supersized star power. Margot comes with big dick energy. That’s what Cathy needs,” Fennell added. Robbie also heaped praises on Fennell’s treatment of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.
She said Fennell’s work has the potential to be “this generation’s Titanic”. Wuthering Heights will hit the theatres in February 2026.