Margot Robbie is defending Emerald Fennell‘s “Wuthering Heights” against a handful of pre-release controversies. Speaking to British Vogue for a new cover story, the Oscar nominee stood by Fennell’s decision to cast Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the roles of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, respectively.
Based on Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel “Wuthering Heights,” Fennell’s film adaptation started courting controversy the minute her casting choices were announced. Catherine is brunette and a teenager in the novel. Robbie is blonde and 35 years old. Fennell confirmed to British Vogue that she aged up Catherine for the movie to be in her late 20s and early 30s.
“I get it,” Robbie said about the backlash over the film’s casting. “There’s nothing else to go off at this point until people see the movie.”
Elordi’s casting as Heathcliff drew even more outrage online since the character is described as “dark-skinned” in Brontë’s novel. But it was Elordi who first inspired Fennell to adapt “Wuthering Heights” after she saw him with sideburns on the set of their last movie, “Saltburn,” and thought: “Oh my God, it’s the Heathcliff on the cover of the book that I’ve had since I was a teenager.”
“I saw him play Heathcliff. And he is Heathcliff. I’d say, just wait. Trust me, you’ll be happy,” Robbie said about Elordi’s controversial casting. “It’s a character that has this lineage of other great actors who’ve played him, from Laurence Olivier to Richard Burton and Ralph Fiennes to Tom Hardy. To be a part of that is special. He’s incredible and I believe in him so much. I honestly think he’s our generation’s Daniel Day-Lewis.”
Fennell passionately defended casting Robbie as Catherine — even if her hair color and age don’t exactly match the novel.
“Cathy is a star,” the director explained. “She’s willful, mean, a recreational sadist, a provocateur. She engages in cruelty in a way that is disturbing and fascinating. It was about finding someone who you would forgive in spite of yourself, someone who literally everyone in the world would understand why you love her. It’s difficult to find that supersized star power. Margot comes with big dick energy. That’s what Cathy needs.”
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Robbie and Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” has also drawn fan outrage over the movie’s marketing, which has been sexy, sweaty and erotic to say the least. The first image released from the movie featured a close-up of a finger in Robbie’s mouth, for instance.
“Everyone’s expecting this to be very, very raunchy. I think people will be surprised. Not to say there aren’t sexual elements and that it’s not provocative – it definitely is provocative – but it’s more romantic than provocative,” Robbie told worried readers. “This is a big epic romance. It’s just been so long since we’ve had one – maybe ‘The Notebook,’ also ‘The English Patient.’ You have to go back decades. It’s that feeling when your chest swells or it’s like someone’s punched you in the guts and the air leaves your body. That’s a signature of Emerald’s. Whether it’s titillating or repulsion, her superpower is eliciting a physical response.”
“Wuthering Heights” opens in theaters Feb. 13 from Warner Bros. Head over to British Vogue’s website to read Robbie’s cover story in its entirety.
From Variety US