Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi cast for Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights

Well, it's all over the news: The Hollywood Reporter, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Glamour and a long, long etcetera report that Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi have been cast for Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights.

From Deadline, which reported it first:

In what is gearing up to be an A-list pairing for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights movie, MRC is tapping Oscar-nominated actress and producer Margot Robbie and BAFTA-nominated actor Jacob Elordi to star in the adaptation of the classic novel.

LuckyChap also will produce Fennell’s upcoming feature film adaptation based on the iconic romance novel by Emily Brontë. Besides being the studio on the project, MRC also will finance the pic.

This marks LuckyChap and Fennell’s third collaboration together, having also produced her most recent pic Saltburn and Promising Young Woman, which won Fennell an Oscar for original screenplay.

Robbie is set to star as Catherine Earnshaw, and Elordi will play Heathcliff. Fennell is set to write, direct and produce. The film is in pre-production gearing up for a UK shoot in 2025.

The original novel by Brontë is considered by many to be one of the great pieces of literature when it was published in 1850 [sic]. The original story follows two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons and the turbulent relationship they have with the Earnshaws’ foster son, Heathcliff.

Plot details on Fennell’s adaptation are unknown at this time.

Following her breakout directing debut with Promising Young Woman, Fennell has turned into one of those multi-hyphenates who gets the industry buzzing whenever a new project is announced. So when she broke the news on her social media that Wuthering Heights would be that next project, everyone was curious at who could play the two iconic characters, and now the town has that answer with two of its biggest stars.

Robbie most recently starred in and produced Barbie, which not only went on to become the biggest film of 2023, grossing $1.4 billion worldwide, but also earning eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture. She next will be seen starring in Kogonada’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, releasing in May.

Wuthering Heights reunites Elordi and Fennell, with actor starring in her most recent pic Saltburn. (Justin Kroll)

Pedestrian reports on the reactions on X:

Now if you’ve read the gothic-romanticist classic as a literature-nerd, or were forced to in high school, you might be wondering why two Aussies have been cast to play the ye-olde-England couple. Presumably they’ll be doing accents? Which is fine I guess…

It’s just a shame we probably won’t get to hear Jacob Elordi say, “Be with me always – take any form – drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!” with his natural Aussie twang.

Additionally, the casting of Elordi as Heathcliff also raised concerns from fans online, due to how the novel alludes to the character being biracial and described as dark-skinned in some excerpts. [...]

This has resulted in folks online questioning why another adaptation of the novel is even being made, when other interpretations were done recently [meaning Andrea Arnold's 2011 take on the novel]. (Lachlan Hodson)

Finally, today marks the anniversary of Branwell Brontë's death in 1848.