U-turn for Wuthering Heights

The Yorkshire Post comments on the recent casting call for Wuthering Heights.

THEY are two of literature's great romantic roles, brought to the screen down the years by pairings from Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon to Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.
But the leading parts of Cathy and Heathcliff in the latest film version of Wuthering Heights will be taken by two young unknowns from Yorkshire, as producers look to add a new sense of authenticity to the timeless tale of love and loss set high in the Yorkshire moors.
Open auditions will be held across the region this week for budding actors aged 14 to 21, with the production team keen to find a "genuine Romany gipsy" to play the part of Heathcliff. No previous acting experience is necessary.
The film's casting director Gail Stevens previously allocated roles for the 2009 hit Slumdog Millionaire, which famously featured youngsters from the slums of Mumbai, where the film is set.
For the part of Heathcliff the casting team want someone of "genuine Romany gipsy/south Mediterranean/Indian/mixed-race appearance". In Emily Brontë's novel, the dark-haired Heathcliff is regularly described as a gipsy by other characters. Producers say Cathy should be "pale-skinned, fair-haired and feisty".
The decision to use local actors represents a major U-turn for the film – Hollywood star Natalie Portman was originally cast as Cathy, but dropped out in 2008. The change of direction has been instigated by new director Andrea Arnold, who produced last year's Bafta-nominated Fish Tank, also featuring an unknown actress in the starring role.
Regional screen agency Screen Yorkshire has been working closely with the production team and says Wuthering Heights will be shot in Yorkshire "in its entirety". Shooting is due to start at the end of April.
Open auditions will be held today at the Jury's Inn Hotel, Sheffield, tomorrow at the Jury's Inn Hotel, Leeds, and on Wednesday at the Royal York Hotel, York. Fourteen to 16-year-olds should arrive at 10.30am, and 17 to 21-year-olds at 2.30pm. (Jack Blanchard)

However, the news doesn't seem to have reached Screen Daily, which still mentions Gemma Arterton and Ed Westwick as attached to the project.

Benelux distributor Cineart has snapped up many of the most high-profile arthouse titles on offer at the EFM over the past few days
It has acquired Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, starring Gemma Arterton and Ed Westwick. . . (Geoffrey Macnab)

In other news, the much-discussed interview with Gordon Brown was finally broadcast last night. Ever since the Heathcliffgate, hardly an article on Gordon Brown can resist the comparison. The Guardian is no exception:

Even Morgan's playful attempt to make the then-chancellor's proposal to Sarah Macaulay "on a wild Scottish beach" in 2000 sound like "Darcy stuff" (did he mean the brooding Heathcliff?) came across like something from the Downing Street news grid. The weather wasn't great. They held hands. He said "I want to get married soon and we should get married soon, please." She said yes, "thankfully". He felt "great". But to avoid media leaks he had the ring sent from America. (Michael White)

A couple of newspapers mention Brontë adaptations by Classics Illustrated in passing: The Columbus Dispatch and the Manila Standard Today. And the EU Observer brings up the names of famous victims of TB, and states generally that 'all the Brontës' died of it. Not Charlotte, as BrontëBlog readers know. The Los Angeles Times mentions André Téchiné's Les Soeurs Brontë in passing as well when reviewing the French director's latest film, La fille du RER (The Girl on the Train).

On the blogosphere: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is reviewed by Every Book and Cranny and Helen Loves Books. Lettura è solitudine writes about Wuthering Heights in Italian and Words from Willow posts about Jane Eyre. Aniss_Icons has created a few Jane Eyre 2006-inspired icons and LaTur has uploaded to Flickr a Wuthering Heights-inspired photograph.

Categories: Movies-DVD-TV, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights