Emerald Fennell Explains Why She Cast Jacob Elordi And Margot Robbie In Wuthering Heights Amid Backlash

Emerald Fennell has explained how she came to cast Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as the leads in her new Wuthering Heights movie.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker has faced some criticism in the last year over the actors she chose to portray Catherine and Heathcliff in her much-hyped film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic gothic novel.

Many have questioned whether Margot, who turned 35 earlier this year, was the right choice for Catherine, given the character is in her late teens for much of the main story, while others have accused the film of “whitewashing” the character of Heathcliff, who is described in the book as being “dark-skinned”.

While his ethnicity is never specified in the source material, it’s been pointed out by fans that Heathcliff is subjected to racism by other characters in the book, particularly as a younger man, so the Euphoria actor’s casting in the role has been a controversial one.

Per BBC News, Emerald opened up about her reasons for casting Margot and Jacob while speaking at the Brontë family home over the weekend.

Emerald explained that the idea for Jacob to play Heathcliff occurred to her when they were working together on her most recent film, Saltburn.

“He looked exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff on the first book that I read,” Emerald recalled. “And it was so awful because I so wanted to scream. Not the professional thing to do, obviously.

“I had been thinking about making [a film version of Wuthering Heights], and it seemed to me he had the thing… he’s a very surprising actor.”

As for Margot, Emerald noted that she’s “not like anyone I’ve ever met – ever”, which is the same way she felt about the character when she first read Wuthering Heights.

“[Margot is] so beautiful and interesting and surprising, and she is the type of person who, like Cathy, could get away with anything,” the Promising Young Woman director said. “I think honestly she could commit a killing spree and nobody would mind. And that is who Cathy is to me. Cathy is somebody who just pushes to see how far she can go.

“So it needed somebody like Margot, who’s a star, not just an incredible actress – which she is – but somebody who has a power, an otherworldly power, a Godlike power, that means people lose their minds.”

While Emerald and Jacob first worked together on Saltburn, she and Margot have also collaborated numerous times.

Margot was an executive producer on both Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, while Emerald made a brief appearance in the 2023 movie Barbie as Midge, a friend of Margot’s doll character.

Preview screenings of Wuthering Heights were reported to have first taken place earlier this year – with audiences having a big reaction to some of the artistic choices Emerald has made with her latest film.