Heathcliff is not German enough

The Daily Star announces tonight's Wuthering Heights 2009 broadcast on ITV like this:

TV has endlessly adapted Emily Bronte’s only novel, but we can’t remember any previous versions.
What does that say? Tonight’s modern adaptation jazzes up the gothic tale by injecting passion and a proper love triangle.
Rising star Tom Hardy brings his usual intensity to the role of Heathcliff, while Charlotte Riley is a conflicted Cathy, torn between Heathcliff and Andrew Lincoln’s handsome Edgar Linton. Concludes tomorrow.

Wales on Sunday also presents the production. But the journalist seems to believe that Wuthering Heights is an Austen-like comedy:

IF you’ve recently watched Tom Hardy busting heads, taking drugs and being bang out of order in the likes of Bronson and The Take, you might find it a little difficult to imagine him as the romantic hero in Emily Bronte’s classic petticoat ruffling drama, featuring Charlotte Riley. However, it’s unlikely we’ll see his Heathcliff coming home ratted from the boozer to kick in Cathy’s front door, call her a “silly bleedin’ mare,” before whacking her old man square in the boat race.
Still, might liven things up a bit around all them posh landed gentry types with their cream teas. (Nathan Bevan)

The thing is that it will not be so unlikely to see Heathcliff do that.

The Sunday Mercury adds:

IF you want passion, brooding intensity and powerful acting, look no further than a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
It’s one of the greatest love stories ever written or brought to the screen.
And this two-parter, shown on consecutive nights, is well worth a look thanks to fresh writing and a great cast. (Roz Laws)

Now for another Wuthering Heights: The Ecosse Project now with GemmaArterton and Ed Westwick in the cast. Probably you will remember that for a time Michael Fassbender was the chosen Heathcliff. The actor is interviewed in The Times about his role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds as Lt Archie Hicox and tells how the cast was made:

“When I got to the audition in Berlin, Quentin and I chatted for a bit. Then he said, ‘Okay, let’s take a look at Hicox.’ I was, like, ‘What about Landa?’ And he goes, ‘Well, I cast my Landa on Tuesday.’ ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Yeah, I’m sure, man.’ Then there was a pause, and he goes, ‘Look, man, any guy that gets cast as Heathcliff is not f***ing German enough to play my Landa, all right?’ [Tarantino knew Fassbender had been cast in a putative remake of the Emily Brontë classic.] And I thought, ‘I’m not going to argue with Quentin Tarantino about who he wants to cast, that’s for sure.’” (Christopher Goodwin)

Daphne Lee talks about the Twilight-Wuthering Heights cover affaire in The Star (Malaysia). She doesn't seem to like the book very much. Poor woman, not everybody is prepared to like the masterpiece that is Wuthering Heights.

Finally, has anyone actually bought Wuthering Heights (by Emily Bronte) because it’s the favourite book of Bella Swan, the heroine of the Twilight series? Or, has anyone bought it thanks to its new Twilight-inspired cover?
Once upon a time, I chose to buy an edition of Room with a View because its cover featured a movie still of Julian Sands and Helena Bonham Carter. So, I totally understand why a teenager might see (and buy) the new edition Wuthering Heights as Twilight merchandise.
However, in my opinion, not even a diamond-encrusted, gold-tooled cover would change the fact that Wuthering Heights is a terrible book. I would buy it if it came with a cover made from a blood-stained window-pane though. Wet earth, a coffin and a severed arm would be a plus. Of course.

Anyway, you know that Wuthering Heights is really popular when you see a totally gratuitous reference to it out of the blue in horse races news:

When the trial started the next day, then the news emerged of a second failed drugs test, it was easy to believe Heathcliff would depart Wuthering Heights for the last time. (David Walsh in The Times)

The Guardian reviews The Act of Love by Howard Jacobson and quotes one of its characters as saying:

Felix [Quinn] observes that books such as Jane Eyre and Anna Karenina straddle the divide between "tragedy and penny dreadful". (Mary Fitzgerald)

We are pretty sure that Edgar Linton or Hindley Earnshaw would certainly agree that this article in the Daily Telegraph (Australia) makes a good description of Heathcliff: a giant cockroach (literally). Annina TeaTime posts about Haddon Hall mentioning its use as location for both Jane Eyre 1996 and Jane Eyre 2006. The Absurd Heroine complains about why the same Brontë novels get adapted time and time again. 花､ふんふん♪ talks about Wuthering Heights 1992 in Japanese and Trying to Break Free posts about the original novel in Portuguese. The Squeee is recording a Jane Eyre audiobook. She has posted the first chapter and asks for opinions.

Categories: Comics, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights