{"id":451269,"date":"2026-02-05T21:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/451269\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T21:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:55:07","slug":"emerald-fennell-hopes-wuthering-heights-will-provoke-a-primal-response-wuthering-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/451269\/","title":{"rendered":"Emerald Fennell hopes Wuthering Heights will \u2018provoke a primal response\u2019 | Wuthering Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emerald Fennell has revealed that Margot Robbie asked if she could play the lead role in the adaptation of Wuthering Heights<\/a> before she had approached the actor to do so.<\/p>\n

Robbie, whose production company LuckyChap Entertainment produced the film, asked if she could play Cathy after reading the script. \u201cI sent it to them to produce, and Margot luckily asked if she might play Cathy,\u201d said Fennell in conversation at the BFI Southbank in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very nervous to ask her, because I think we have a different relationship, and I didn\u2019t want to put her on the spot,\u201d she said. \u201cI was like: \u2018Do I go for it?\u2019 No, I didn\u2019t. Of course I didn\u2019t, because she\u2019s braver than me. She asked me.\u201d<\/p>\n

However the decision to cast Robbie in the role of Cathy has led to much scepticism and scrutiny ahead of the film\u2019s release, specifically for its departure from the original 1847 novel by Emily Bront\u00eb<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jacob Elordi in Wuthering Heights. Photograph: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures<\/p>\n

Robbie, 35, will play Catherine Earnshaw who is written to be in her late teens in the original novel. The casting of Jacob Elordi<\/a> as Heathcliff has also been criticised. In the book, the character is described by Bront\u00eb to be of \u201cGypsy\u201d and \u201cLascar\u201d (South Asian) descent, which accounts for the prejudice against the him in the book.<\/p>\n

However Fennell defended her decision. \u201cI can\u2019t adapt the book as it is but I can approximate the way it made me feel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The casting director Kharmel Cochrane also defended the choice at the Sands film festival in Scotland last summer, saying that \u201cthere\u2019s no need to be accurate\u201d and it\u2019s \u201cjust a book\u201d.<\/p>\n

Robbie co-founded the production company LuckyChap Entertainment in 2014 with her husband, Tom Ackerley, as well as producers Josey McNamara, and Sophia Kerr. The company produced Fennell\u2019s previous two films, Saltburn and Promising Young Woman.<\/p>\n

The adaptation of Wuthering Heights will premiere on 5 February in London\u2019s Leicester Square and will be released in cinemas in the UK on 13 February for Valentine\u2019s weekend.<\/p>\n

\u2018She\u2019s braver than me\u2019 \u2026 Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights. Photograph: Landmark Media\/Alamy<\/p>\n

The film first premiered in Los Angeles on 28 January, with critics calling it<\/a> \u201cintoxicating, transcendent, tantalising, bewitching, lust worthy, hypnotic\u201d \u2013 although full reviews are embargoed until 8 February.<\/p>\n

Fennell\u2019s directorial style has been characterised by her daring, provocative and at times indulgent social commentary. Speaking about how this style will continue in her latest feature she said: \u201cWuthering Heights needs to provoke a sort of primal response.\u201d<\/p>\n

The director also spoke about the background behind the set design in the film, revealing that the wallpaper in Cathy\u2019s bedroom was inspired by images of Robbie\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe asked her to send us all her veins and her freckles, and then we printed it on silk and stuffed it and put latex over it so that it could sweat,\u201d she said. \u201cAt first glance, you don\u2019t see any of it, it\u2019s just a beautiful pink room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a visual example of what it feels like to be made a wife, to be made an object of beauty, to be a collector\u2019s item.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other unconventional behind the scenes activity involved shrines Fennell made of Elordi and Robbie as a way to mimic the infatuation their respective characters have with one another in the film. \u201cI was like: \u2018I\u2019m going to go through the internet, I\u2019m going to find their best photos and then I\u2019m going to make shrines in their bedrooms for each other,\u2019\u201d she said<\/p>\n

\u2018I can\u2019t adapt the book as it is but I can approximate the way it made me feel\u2019 \u2026 Emerald Fennell speaks at BFI Southbank. Photograph: Jeff Spicer\/Getty Images for Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when Jacob went into his room, he had an insane shrine to worship not just Cathy, but Margot Robbie<\/a> and then she had the same thing. There\u2019s nothing more humanising than somebody\u2019s first press photo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fennell also spoke about the process of getting Charli xcx onboard to create the soundtrack for the film: \u201cI sent Charli the script. Even though she was in the middle of the brat tour, the most busy person in the entire world, she read it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe called me and said: \u2018What do you want?\u2019 I said: \u2018Well, a song would be nice.\u2019 And she said: \u2018How about an album?\u2019 And I was like: \u2018Yeah, cool.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so dorky, but it is my favourite album I\u2019ve ever, ever heard in my life. She just got it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emerald Fennell has revealed that Margot Robbie asked if she could play the lead role in the adaptation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-451269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}