Emily Brontë biopic on the way

Breaking news today: it looks like an Emily Brontë biopic is in the making! Many, many sites are echoing the news, but here's what The Hollywood Reporter says:

Source

Sex Education star Emma Mackey has nabbed the lead role in Emily, Frances O’Connor’s directorial debut about the early years of Wuthering Heights author Emily Brontë.
Embankment is handling world sales on the project, which will be introduced to buyers at the upcoming Cannes virtual market.
The ensemble cast also includes Joe Alwyn, Fionn Whitehead and Emily Beecham. Alwyn will play Emily’s conflicted lover; Whitehead will portray Branwell Brontë, Emily’s inspiring but self-destructive brother; and Beecham will play Emily's sister and fellow author Charlotte Brontë.
Wuthering Heights was first published in the mid-1800s and revolves around the doomed love affair between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. O'Connor, who starred in Mansfield Park (1999), will direct Emily based on her own screenplay.
"Emily Brontë’s work and words are full of passion, feeling, violence and fierce intelligence," O'Connor said Thursday in a statement. "In creating an imagined life for Emily, she will live again for our audience. Her story is about a young woman daring to form herself, to embrace her true nature, despite the consequences. ... I am so excited to work with such a thrilling, talented, young cast; luminous, intelligent, and spirited."
Production on Emily is set to start in Britain's Yorkshire region in early 2021. Producer credits are shared between David Barron, Piers Tempest and Jo Bamford of Tempo Productions and Robert Connolly and Robert Patterson of Arenamedia.

Rest of the announced cast. Clockwise: Charlotte,
'Emily’s conflicted lover' and Branwell

Added Barron in his own statement: "We are going to produce a movie of significant ambition, for audiences to enjoy and celebrate the scale of Emily Brontë’s own magnificent imagination.” (Etan Vlessing)

More from Variety:

O’Connor said: “Emily Brontë’s work and words are full of passion, feeling, violence, and fierce intelligence. In creating an imagined life for Emily, she will live again for our audience. Her story is about a young woman daring to form herself, to embrace her true nature, despite the consequences. Emily is, in fact, a love letter to women today, especially young women, a calling to them to challenge themselves to connect with their authentic voice and potential.” [...]
Principal photography will start in the first quarter of next year in Yorkshire, U.K. [...]
“Emily” is produced by David Barron [who said] “We are going to produce a movie of significant ambition – for audiences to enjoy and celebrate the scale of Emily Brontë’s own magnificent imagination.”
Embankment’s Tim Haslam said: “We really admire Frances’ expertise for combining highly refreshing and emotional storytelling with detailed research and nuanced observation and we celebrate her as a new voice of cinema.”
Embankment is placing worldwide sales and distribution for a 2022 release. (Leo Barraclough)

Many, many more sites are relaying the news, but basically, that's all the info we have so far. Given that no actress has been named for Anne we wonder whether she will even appear. Anyway, we do hope it will come to happen as we are duly intrigued.

Anyway, onto our regular newsround now. Penguin recommends the 'greatest walks in literature' and one of them is

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Just how many hours did Cathy and Heathcliff (and their ghosts) spend walking the moors in search of each other? Many, many hours is the answer. Emily Bronte's descriptions of the Yorkshire moors as the bleak but atmospheric setting for the tragic love affair evoke a real sense of place. So popular is the setting of Bronte's novel that there are dozens of websites offering information on how to walk the landscape of Wuthering Heights. One to add to the list after lockdown (unless you're lucky enough to live near the moors).

The Digital Fix reviews the novel Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia.

With heavy referencing from Dracula, The Fall of the House of Usher and a whole range of Edgar Allan Poe works, SIlvia Moreno-Garcia really leaves no Victorian Gothic novel unmined, overtly referencing Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, but also referencing The Yellow Wallpaper as an indication of madness. (Noel Megahey)

The Nerd Daily reviews Thornhill by Pam Smy.

For fans of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Thornill is a graphic novel that you will be devour in one sitting. With some lovely nods to classic literature, such as The Secret Garden or Jane Eyre, Pam Smy is able to portray that decaying loneliness of some of the greatest pieces of literature, while being able to appeal to people who would rather enjoy a piece of current times. Don’t be afraid to meet the ghost of Thornhill, because it is the only soul that will not haunt your nightmares. After all, all we ever want is a true friend we can cherish and who loves us back. (Ankara C)

Onirik (France) interviews Anna Feissel-Leibovici, author of Quel Brontë êtes-vous ?

Onirik : Bonjour Anna, pouvez-vous en quelques mots, présenter votre parcours, qu’est-ce qui vous a amenée à écrire ce livre ? Anna Feissel-Leibovici  : Je suis devenue psychanalyste après avoir fait de longues études de lettres classiques. Ce sont deux disciplines qui s’accordent très bien et se nourrissent l’une de l’autre. Freud disait que les écrivains précèdent les psychanalystes dans l’art d’éclairer les énigmes de la psyché humaine, et que leurs œuvres ont pour eux valeur d’enseignement. J’étais déjà autrice de deux livres de psychanalyse, mais j’avais le désir d’écrire quelque chose de purement littéraire. Le temps passait, lorsque j’ai rencontré les Brontë. Je parle des personnes, plus encore que de leurs œuvres. Je n’ai plus pu les quitter.
C’est ma « Brontëmania » qui m’a poussée à écrire un livre pour me dégager d’une passion qui devenait un peu trop prenante. Pendant plusieurs années, je n’ai plus lu que leurs romans ou bien les biographies qui leur étaient consacrées. C’était une expérience étrange, mais tellement agréable, que je risquais de me complaire dans le monde où je vivais avec ceux qui étaient devenus mes sisters and brother. Il est devenu clair, à un moment, qu’il me fallait percer la bulle en faisant quelque chose de ce que j’avais vécu dans leur compagnie. Leur fréquentation avait eu des effets sur ma vie. Je ne voulais pas écrire une biographie de plus- il y en a déjà tant et d’excellentes-, mais un livre qui puise autant dans la vie des Brontë que dans la mienne et qui relate mon aventure avec eux.
Le moment qui a toutefois été déterminant fut celui où j’ai découvert que les enfants Brontë avaient tous les quatre été des enfants écrivains, et cela bien avant que les sisters ne deviennent les autrices de chefs-d’œuvre inoubliables. Les Juvenilia, ou œuvres de jeunesse, comptent plus de pages à elles seules que tous les romans des sisters réunis. Elles sont écrites d’une écriture minuscule impossible à déchiffrer à l’œil nu. Ce sont les chroniques de « Verdopolis », le monde imaginaire très élaboré que les jeunes Brontë inventèrent et firent vivre d’abord tous les quatre, avant qu’Emily et Anne ne prennent leur indépendance en créant leur propre royaume, « Gondal ». C’était un merveilleux remède contre la solitude dans laquelle vivaient les sisters and brother, qui avaient perdu leur mère très tôt et dont le père était lui-même de nature solitaire, outre le fait qu’il était occupé par ses ouailles et ses sermons. (Claire Saim) (Translation)

The Yorkshire Post has something really terrible (but sadly true) to say about the uncertain future of BBC Four.

The Covid-19 crisis has created a £125m hole in its funding. And – when it comes to budget cuts – live drama performances, documentaries about the Brontës and Bach concerts will always be deemed more dispensable than bland reality shows, terrible cross-dressing sitcoms and the enormous salaries of high-profile, high-earning presenters. (Anthony Clavane)

O Liberal (Brazil) recommends hopeful books for students to read during the pandemic, including Jane Eyre. While Time magazine features a student who's reading exactly that.

Finally, today is World Goth Day according to Republic World, so a fitting day for the Emily announcement.