John Maybury quits Wuthering Heights

Didn't we say the Wuthering Heights film version on the works (not to be confused with the ITV version!) was starting to have many similarities with the Brontë biopic? Mainly because for one reason or another they can never start filming. First Natalie Portman abandoned the project soon after taking it on. And although it now seems that Abbie Cornish, an Australian actress, has agreed to play Cathy, as the Daily Mail reports, the article also says that apparently John Maybury, the director, has quit the project.

The high-profile movie production of Wuthering Heights has had more drama behind the scenes than the plot of Emily Bronte's famous novel - and that's before a single scene has been shot.

Natalie Portman was cast as the movie's heroine Catherine Earnshaw, then withdrew under mysterious circumstances; Keira Knightley dismissed overtures because she didn't want 'sloppy seconds'; Sienna Miller was courted for about a minute but that dalliance was ditched on the Yorkshire Moors; and now I can reveal that the picture's director John Maybury has withdrawn because, it's claimed, he didn't like the screenplay.

The search is now on for another filmmaker to take hold of the literary classic.

The new director, whoever he or she may be, will at least find actors in place to
play the leading roles.

Fast-rising thespian Michael Fassbender is already signed to play the brooding Heathcliff, and Australian actress Abbie Cornish has agreed to play Cathy.

In fact, they make an ideal cast to bring Bronte's revered characters to life on celluloid. All they need now is a director to shout: 'Action!'

It's a shame about Maybury's quitting because he would have injected a dangerous edginess to the costume drama, the producers must find a new director who possesses a visual flair and a sense of daring.

I hope Fassbender remains with the project because he is an exciting actor, and when I last spoke to him he was brimming with ideas on how he would bring Heathcliff to life. [...]

Fassbender has a powerful screen presence - just what Wuthering Heights will need, whoever directs it. (Baz Bamigboye)

We are quite shocked as John Maybury seemed to be quite a driving force behind this production. But we hope that Michael Fassbender and now Abbie Cornish - though not quite our initial image of Cathy, more like the candidate Sienna Miller rather than Natalie Portman - stay put and that some great director comes along and strats filming for once and for all.

The First Post has an article on the subject as well:

It is not known exactly why Maybury, whose credits include the recent Dylan Thomas movie The Edge of Love, left, but the Daily Mail claims it was down to differences of opinion between himself and the producers over the script and cast (as reported on The First Post, Maybury was never keen on Portman taking the lead role). It seems the project had moved into a direction he was not happy with. In a recent interview, Maybury said that the producers initially wanted "a weird, dark version of the weird, dark tale", but it soon became apparent that was not the case.

(Picture source)

Categories: In the News, Movies-DVD-TV, Wuthering Heights