Wuthering Heights fans are divided by Jacob Elordi's casting as Heathcliff in the upcoming film adaptation of the 1847 classic novel.
The Saltburn actor will star opposite Margot Robbie (Catherine Earnshaw) in director Emerald Fennell's take on Emily Brontë's novel. Some people have hit out at the decision because Heathcliff was described in the book as "dark skinned," although his ancestry was not altogether clear.
The Independent's film critic Clarisse Loughrey was among those to speak out, posting on X to her 17,000 followers: "Did anyone actually read the book before deciding this?"
Collider's Maggie Boccella wrote on the platform to her 1,000 fans: "Gonna just go ahead and keep my English major mouth shut on this one." But then posted: "Said I was gonna shut up, but it is *painfully* obvious that Fennell doesn't actually care about WH's themes. She just wants to make a tortured lovers drama with a name that'll put butts in seats."
"As though her last two movies didn't make that shallowness obvious already," she said of the filmmaker, who was at the helm of last year's Saltburn and 2020's Promising Young Woman.
TV and film critic Gavia Baker-Whitelaw added: "White Heathcliff and 34-year-old Cathy, and they both look like they belong on Instagram.... I'm obsessed. Emerald Fennell does it again [derogatory]," to her 13,000 followers.
"Shame," one fan remarked on X. "Much more suitable actors out there."
Another person—an academic and writer specializing in the field of nineteenth-century Gothic—penned: "Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff was 'as dark almost as if it came from the devil'; 'a dark skinned gipsy; as a child, he wishes he'd had 'light hair and a fair skin', aware of his radicalisation.
"The film industry: *let us cast yet another white actor*."
Newsweek has contacted representatives for Elordi and Fennell for comment.
The novel has been adapted for both TV and film on several occasions, with actors who have portrayed Heathcliff including Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Timothy Dalton, Tom Hardy and Ralph Fiennes.
In 2011, James Howson became the first Black actor to play the character on film when he was cast in director Andrea Arnold's adaptation. Skins star Kaya Scodelario played Catherine. A 2021 production of the classic by the U.K.'s National Theatre featured a mixed race actor.
Brontë expert Nick Holland told Newsweek: "One difficulty in the casting of Heathcliff is the conundrum Emily left us about his race—we know that he was plucked from the docks at Liverpool, and he is described as dark skinned, whilst other characters, using the parlance of the time, refer to him as a 'gipsy' and as a 'Lascar,' a native of Southeast Asia. It is also noted that he could be American or Spanish.
"What they are definitely saying is that Heathcliff stood out in some way because of his looks and skin color. The 2011 adaptation cast Black actors James Howson and Solomon Glave as Heathcliff, and I think it was a very successful move."
Holland went on: "Emerald Fennell, with Elordi, has given us another white Heathcliff—but given the ambiguity of Emily's description this shouldn't necessarily rule him out. I do think, however, that it would be preferable to have a BAME actor portraying Heathcliff in new adaptations, if only to show that the England of this time was more ethnically diverse than some people realize."
A representative for the Brontë Parsonage Museum told Newsweek: "Everyone at the Brontë Parsonage Museum is very excited about Emerald Fennell's adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
"Emily Brontë's Heathcliff is shrouded in intrigue and his ancestral background is ambiguous, but every screen or theatre adaptation brings something fresh for contemporary audiences to think about. We are thrilled that Emily's work continues to inspire creatives today and look forward to learning more about Emerald Fennell's ideas."
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