‘Wuthering Heights’ director Emerald Fennell responds to controversy over casting Jacob Elordi, whose character in the book is a person of color:
“I think the thing is everyone who loves this book has such a personal connection to it and so you can only ever kind of make the… pic.twitter.com/vFCBhEEIqY
— Buzzing Pop (@BuzzingPop) January 29, 2026
“Wuthering Heights” director Emerald Fennell has come under criticism for her casting choice of Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff in her 2026 remake, in part because the love interests are teenagers at this point in the story (and co-stars Margot Robbie and Jacob are clearly not), and in part because Jacob is white, whereas in the novel, Heathcliff is described as “dark-skinned” with “black eyes.”
In a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Emerald said of her decision: “I think the thing is everyone who loves this book has such a personal connection to it and so you can only ever kind of make the movie that that you sort of imagined yourself when you read it. I don’t know, I think I was sort of focusing on the kind of sado-masochistic elements of it…that’s the great thing about this movie is that it could be made every year and it would still be so moving and so interesting.”
