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Buzz Feed
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
The 'Wuthering Heights' Casting Director Addressed The Jacob Elordi Backlash And Said The Movie Doesn't Need To Be 'Accurate' Because It's 'Just A Book' — And People Are Outraged
Last year, it was confirmed that Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie would star together in Emerald Fennell 's upcoming film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, the classic 1847 novel by Emily Brontë. The casting announcement did not go down well at the time, and it's fair to say it's still not sitting right with fans. For context, many feel that 34-year-old Margot is too old to play 18-year-old Catherine Earnshaw, while Jacob is probably too white to play Heathcliff, the foster son of the Earnshaw family, who is described early in the book as 'dark-skinned.' The exact details around Heathcliff's race and ethnicity are ambiguous in the novel. However, another character refers to him as 'a little Lascar,' which means a sailor from Southeast Asia, and in a later part of the text, he is described as a 'ragged, black-haired child… as dark almost as if it came from the devil.' Despite this, Heathcliff has historically been portrayed by white actors, with the exception of the 2011 film, in which he was played by James Howson. All in all, the consensus is that neither Jacob nor Margot, who are both Australian, are the right fit for the roles based on how they're described in the book. And now, off the back of the first batch of photographs of the pair together in costume on set, the film's casting director has weighed in on the widespread criticism. Speaking at a Q&A session during the Sands Film Festival in Scotland over the weekend, Kharmel Cochrane — who notably worked with Jacob and Margot on Emerald's Saltburn in 2023 — argued that the actors don't need to look exactly how the characters are described in the original text because 'it's just a book.' 'If something is clearly written as white, for example, a script reads 'she tied her blonde hair back,' but there's no specific reason for it, I will just put people on tape,' she explained. 'And then it's almost like I dare someone to question why I've done it, and they don't. So then it just becomes normal. Years ago, I would get people saying, 'Did you read the brief?' And I'd say yeah, and this is my interpretation of it, just like when you can read a book.' 'There was one Instagram comment that said the casting director should be shot,' she said, talking about the backlash more specifically. 'But just wait till you see it, and then you can decide whether you want to shoot me or not. But you really don't need to be accurate. It's just a book. That is not based on real life. It's all art.' Aside from the castings, Kharmel hinted at some potentially 'even more shocking' differences between the book and upcoming film, saying, 'there's definitely going to be some English Lit fans that are not going to be happy.' 'Wait until you see the set design because that is even more shocking,' she teased. 'And there may or may not be a dog collar in it.' Well, as a former English Lit student, that was a liiiittle painful to hear — and it sounds like I'm not the only one feeling odd about Kharmel's latest comments. Many fans on X have pointed out that it's a bold choice to describe Wuthering Heights as 'just a book,' when you consider that it was Emily Brontë's only novel, published at a time when very few women's writing saw the light of day, and is widely lauded as a masterpiece. On top of that, Kharmel's quips about the reactions of 'English Lit fans' are also bound to 'alienate' what will likely be the movie's primary audience of — you guessed it — English Lit fans. Caro_LBF / X / Via I have to say, I'm with the people on this one. What do you think of her comments? Is it arrogance, or are they just enjoying pushing the boundaries of making a movie adaptation? LMK your thoughts.
Daily Mail
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Jacob Elordi sparks fresh controversy over Wuthering Heights role after new interview
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. 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.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Heathcliff ‘may have been black'
The Brontë museum has suggested that the character of Heathcliff may have been black. Heathcliff features as the brooding anti-hero in Wuthering Heights, a tale of passion which shocked the Victorian public when it was published in 1847. Emily Brontë described him as darker than other characters in the novel but not explicitly black, with comparisons to a 'dark-skinned gypsy' or a 'Lascar', a south Asian sailor. However, Heathcliff is also described as 'pale' at times and possibly 'Spanish'. On screen, the character has been played principally by white actors, including Laurence Olivier in 1939, but in 2011 the roles of the old and young Heathcliff went to black British performers James Howson and Solomon Glave. The debate over ethnicity of the character has reignited following the decision to cast white actor Jacob Elordi in the role for an upcoming film. The Brontë Parsonage in Haworth, once the Yorkshire home of Emily, Anne and Charlotte Brontë and now a museum dedicated to the authors, has set out the case for Heathcliff being a man of 'black African descent'. The argument has been advanced by the Brontë Society, which controls the parsonage museum, following a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Information on its website suggests that Heathcliff may have been inspired by a black abolitionist and former slave. This states that while the character's ethnicity remains a mystery, there are clues 'linking him to the transatlantic slave trade'. A resource on the official parsonage website, titled Black History, states: 'The fact that Heathcliff is found in Liverpool, described as an orphan with no 'owner' or 'belonging' to anybody, opens up the possibility that Heathcliff could have black African descent, having been brought to Liverpool through the slave trade.' It also adds that Brontë may have based Heathcliff's appearance on the Frederick Douglass, the black American abolitionist . Douglass was a renowned figure at the time the novel was written, the resource states. To further support the idea, parallels are drawn between Heathcliff's brutal upbringing in the eponymous home, Wuthering Heights, and the treatment of slaves. It states: 'This forced endurance of misery and beatings is an experience that can be compared to that of enslaved people across the colonies… Heathcliff is 'flogged' like an enslaved person by Hindley and the entire family contributes to this prejudice.' The society added that 'it's interesting that Emily chose to set Wuthering Heights in a time when the transatlantic slave trade was a large part of the economy in Britain'. The society advanced the argument for a black Heathcliff following controversy over an upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation, written and produced by Emerald Fennell, which will star Margot Robbie alongside Elordi as Heathcliff's soulmate, Catherine Earnshaw. The pair are childhood friends denied a life together in the novel, which presents Heathcliff as a kind of supernatural and devilish being. The casting of Elordi was criticised by many on social media who accused the film of 'whitewashing' the story. The parsonage's intervention in the debate over Heathcliff's race comes ahead of a planned annual conference, set for autumn, that will address how the Brontë sisters are linked to 'Empire and Western colonialism'. Research will tackle issues including 'racialisation' and 'whiteness' in the works of the literary family. The Brontë Society said that the theme was chosen at a time when 'continued efforts to decolonise the curriculum and museums are being made'. The links to the colonial world in the works of the Brontës include Heathcliff's debated race, and the character of Bertha Mason, who hails from Jamaica, in Charlotte's 1847 novel Jane Eyre. The conference will also debate the character Quashia Quamina, a black figure who featured in the imaginary world of Angria, which Charlotte devised. The Brontë Society board is led by book influencer Lucy Powrie, who was 25 when she was appointed its youngest chairman. The Brontë Parsonage Museum itself is directed by Rebecca Yorke. The society's commitment to inclusion has come under scrutiny in the past. In 2024, the Brontë sisters were named in an LGBT Pride campaign because they wrote under pen names. Pride Month material published by the Brontë Society discussed 'the Brontës and gender identity' because of their 'androgynous' alter-egos. Charlotte published her works under the name Currer, Emily under the moniker Ellis, while Anne adopted the name Acton. All three went by the same surname of Bell. During their lifetimes, it was common for female writers to adopt male pseudonyms when writing and publishing their works in order to be taken seriously by the establishment. The Brontë Parsonage Museum has been contacted for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Heathcliff ‘may have been black'
The Brontë museum has suggested that the character of Heathcliff may have been black. Heathcliff features as the brooding anti-hero in Wuthering Heights, a tale of passion which shocked the Victorian public when it was published in 1847. Emily Brontë described him as darker than other characters in the novel but not explicitly black, with comparisons to a 'dark-skinned gypsy' or a 'Lascar', a south Asian sailor. However, Heathcliff is also described as 'pale' at times and possibly 'Spanish'. On screen, the character has been played principally by white actors, including Laurence Olivier in 1939, but in 2011 the roles of the old and young Heathcliff went to black British performers James Howson and Solomon Glave. The debate over ethnicity of the character has reignited following the decision to cast white actor Jacob Elordi in the role for an upcoming film. The Brontë Parsonage in Haworth, once the Yorkshire home of Emily, Anne and Charlotte Brontë and now a museum dedicated to the authors, has set out the case for Heathcliff being a man of 'black African descent'. Heathcliff 'may have been inspired by former slave' The argument has been advanced by the Brontë Society, which controls the parsonage museum, following a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Information on its website suggests that Heathcliff may have been inspired by a black abolitionist and former slave. This states that while the character's ethnicity remains a mystery, there are clues 'linking him to the transatlantic slave trade'. A resource on the official parsonage website, titled Black History, states: 'The fact that Heathcliff is found in Liverpool, described as an orphan with no 'owner' or 'belonging' to anybody, opens up the possibility that Heathcliff could have black African descent, having been brought to Liverpool through the slave trade.' It also adds that Brontë may have based Heathcliff's appearance on the Frederick Douglass, the black American abolitionist . Douglass was a renowned figure at the time the novel was written, the resource states. To further support the idea, parallels are drawn between Heathcliff's brutal upbringing in the eponymous home, Wuthering Heights, and the treatment of slaves. It states: 'This forced endurance of misery and beatings is an experience that can be compared to that of enslaved people across the colonies… Heathcliff is 'flogged' like an enslaved person by Hindley and the entire family contributes to this prejudice.' The society added that 'it's interesting that Emily chose to set Wuthering Heights in a time when the transatlantic slave trade was a large part of the economy in Britain'. The society advanced the argument for a black Heathcliff following controversy over an upcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation, written and produced by Emerald Fennell, which will star Margot Robbie alongside Elordi as Heathcliff's soulmate, Catherine Earnshaw. The pair are childhood friends denied a life together in the novel, which presents Heathcliff as a kind of supernatural and devilish being. The casting of Elordi was criticised by many on social media who accused the film of 'whitewashing' the story. The parsonage's intervention in the debate over Heathcliff's race comes ahead of a planned annual conference, set for autumn, that will address how the Brontë sisters are linked to 'Empire and Western colonialism'. Research will tackle issues including 'racialisation' and 'whiteness' in the works of the literary family. The Brontë Society said that the theme was chosen at a time when 'continued efforts to decolonise the curriculum and museums are being made'. The links to the colonial world in the works of the Brontës include Heathcliff's debated race, and the character of Bertha Mason, who hails from Jamaica, in Charlotte's 1847 novel Jane Eyre. The conference will also debate the character Quashia Quamina, a black figure who featured in the imaginary world of Angria, which Charlotte devised. The Brontë Society board is led by book influencer Lucy Powrie, who was 25 when she was appointed its youngest chairman. The Brontë Parsonage Museum itself is directed by Rebecca Yorke. The society's commitment to inclusion has come under scrutiny in the past. In 2024, the Brontë sisters were named in an LGBT Pride campaign because they wrote under pen names. Pride Month material published by the Brontë Society discussed 'the Brontës and gender identity' because of their 'androgynous' alter-egos. Charlotte published her works under the name Currer, Emily under the moniker Ellis, while Anne adopted the name Acton. All three went by the same surname of Bell. During their lifetimes, it was common for female writers to adopt male pseudonyms when writing and publishing their works in order to be taken seriously by the establishment.
