If we had a penny for every time we saw Jacob Elordi star as a tortured figure in a Gothic Romantic epic helmed by an auteur unafraid to take a literary masterwork and mould it to their own unique, transgressive vision, then we’d have two pennies — which isn’t a lot, but crazy that it’s happened twice, right? Yes, having just won our hearts as the pitiable Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi’s Byronic hero era is set to continue in Emerald Fennell’s upcoming Emily Brontë adaptation Wuthering Heights, where the Aussie star plays the Heathcliff to Margot Robbie’s Cathy. Check out the new trailer — soundtracked by none other than budding thesp and pop icon Charli XCX — below;
In honour of Elordi’s surprisingly strong northern accent, allow us to be the first to say *clears throat* bloody ‘ell, that looks reyt good, does that. All furtive touches, yearning glances, bad omens, smouldering looks, and even more smouldering confrontations, this latest trailer for Fennell’s transgressive new take on Brontë’s book is hitting all the right notes — and it certainly doesn’t hurt that it’s shot like a Caspar David Friedrich painting by Saltburn DP Linus Sandgren and set to a hyperpop heartbreak anthem by Charli XCX. Hell, there’s even some salacious wall licking by Elordi’s increasingly desperate malcontent Heathcliff in among all the galloping horses, gorgeous outfits, and wily, windy moors if that’s your sort of thing.
Described in its official press release as “an epic tale of lust, love and madness,” Wuthering Heights — whose powerhouse line-up elsewhere includes Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Ewan Mitchell, and Adolescence breakout Owen Cooper — already looks like a take on Brontë’s doomed romance for the ages. We’ll find out whether Emerald Fennell’s latest is destined to be with us always — or indeed drive us mad — when Wuthering Heights gallops into cinemas on Valentine’s Day next year.