Jacob Elordi sparks fresh controversy over Wuthering Heights role after new interview

Daily Mail​

21-04-2025

Jacob Elordi has ignited fresh uproar after revealing he was about to take a break from acting when Emerald Fennell offered him the controversial Wuthering Heights role, with many saying he should have 'run' from the job.
The 27-year-old Euphoria actor is set to play Heathcliff alongside Margot Robbie in Fennell's upcoming film adaptation.
News of his casting in September had already prompted much backlash amongst critics as the brooding central character is described as a 'dark-skinned gypsy' with 'black eyes' in Emily Bronte's classic novel.
Heathcliff is also described as 'a little Lascar,' a 19th century term for an Indian sailor, which has also led naysayers to claim that Elordi is not 'racially ambiguous' enough.
In a recent interview with IndieWire, Elordi opened up about how he landed the role in the first place - and his answer sparked even more backlash.
'I was really lucky,' he said.
'I was going to take a break for a while, and then Emerald just very simply texted me, and you can't run from that text.'
He added to the publication: 'I'm so, so excited for people to see it.'
Social media users were quick to blast Elordi for u-turning on his decision to take a hiatus, with many people saying he should have 'run' from Emerald's text rather than accepting the role.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one said: 'He should've taken that break.'
Another wrote: 'Except you can run from that text though. You should've ran…'
'You can run from that text, and you almost certainly should have,' a third said.
Echoing a similar sentiment, another quipped: 'But you can decline.'
Over on Reddit, one user commented: 'Given that he's a terrible choice for the role he totally could have "run from that text."'
Some, however, are confused by the backlash and have pointed out that Fennell's version will be a 'different' take on the original novel.
'It's clearly going to be a totally different interpretation of the book but… so what?' one commented.
'There's been wildly different interpretations of art since day one. If it's not for you just skip it.'
'I fully trust Emerald to do an awesome job with it,' another agreed. 'She is such a visionary. And the book demands an artistic, unusual view. Even today it scandalizes.'
The tortured Heathcliff is one of literature's most complex anti-heroes and while he is perceived to be racially ambiguous in the original text, he has been played by white actors, including Tom Hardy, Ralph Fiennes, and Lawrence Olivier.
In Fennell's upcoming film, Margot Robbie plays Catherine Earnshaw, or Cathy.
The 34-year-old actress returned to work on the project after giving birth to her first child with her British husband Tom Ackerley last year, and the couple's production company, LuckyChap, is producing the film.
Robbie's role has also triggered a response, with some arguing that she is 'too old' to play the character, who is just a teenager in the book.
The character of Edgar Linton, a wealthy aristocrat who falls in love with and marries Cathy, is played by 36-year-old British Pakistani actor Shazad Latif, while Oscar-nominated actress Hong Chau, 45, an American born in Thailand, is set to appear as housekeeper Nelly Dean.
DailyMail.com revealed the first images of Margot as Cathy after the production began filming in January.
Margot and Jacob have also worked together before - on Saltburn - and are set to appear in a new short film, See You At 5, for the new Chanel No 5 campaign.
Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, published in 1847, is considered a masterpiece.
The original story centers on the upper middle-class Earnshaw family and their turbulent relationship with Heathcliff, an orphaned boy they take in.
Owen Cooper, the young British actor who has made waves for his debut performance in Netflix's Adolescence, is to play the teenage Heathcliff.