If you haven’t yet recovered from that bathtub scene in Saltburn , it’s probably best to look away now: Oscar-winning provocateur Emerald Fennell has set her sights on her next project, her choice surely set to be Splinter .
On July 12, the director shared an illustration of a haunting skeleton created by artist Katie Buckley on X. At its center is the title “Wuthering Heights,” and below that is the caption “The Films of Emerald Fennell. Take any form. Drive me mad,” Heathcliff’s immortal words spoken after Catherine Earnshaw’s tragic death.
Given that her last film, and Promising Young Woman before that, were both about obsession – the first about one student’s attraction to another student, the second about a woman hell-bent on dying for the best, the decision to adapt Emily Brontë’s seminal tale of doomed love – and the accompanying slogan – makes perfect sense.
However, it leaves us with a number of questions. Will it be a faithful period adaptation, or a modern update? Compare it to countless other big screen renditions of this particular story, from the 1939 version with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon, to the 1992 film starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes, and Andrea Arnold’s 2011 reimagining with Kay, how will it compare to Scodelario and James Howson?
I wonder, will Barry Keoghan, in waistcoat and disheveled hair, play our brooding Byronic hero? Who could possibly play Casey? Well, on that front at least, we now have some answers: on September 23, news broke that it wasn’t Ireland’s Oscar nominee, but – shockingly – his role in Saltburn “co-star Jacob Elordi (Jacob Elordi) would star in” Heathcliff”. Will will (presumably) have dark hair to embody his tortured lover. After backing Fennell’s previous two films, the latter film will also be produced through her company LuckyChap.
It’s unclear who else will fill out the expected star cast (personally, I’m hoping Carey Mulligan shows up again, as she did in Fennell’s last two hits, playing some crazy and unpredictable characters). Special fans said: This is not a drill. It’s time to curse Kate Bush and dig out her tattered version of this literary classic once again.
