I don’t have strong feelings about Wuthering Heights, the novel or any of the film adaptations. Jane Eyre is the book I have strong feelings about, and if Margot Robbie ever tries to play Jane Eyre, I will be ready to fight her one-on-one. But Margot signed on to play Catherine in Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights. WH fans have already been traumatized by the casting and the first photos from the set. It’s not just that Margot is a 34-year-old woman playing a character who is supposed to be 18 or 19 years old. It’s that they cast Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. Heathcliff, who is described by Emily Brontë as being “dark-skinned.” Well, Emerald’s casting director recently spoke at a Q&A session, and what she said is completely bonkers.
Wuthering Heights characters Catherine and Heathcliff may not be able to live without one another, but the upcoming film’s casting director thinks fans can live without the film’s lead actors looking exactly how they are described in the novel. After receiving backlash for casting Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the film, set to be theatrically released Feb. 13, 2026, casting director Kharmel Cochrane is speaking out in defense of the choices.
“If something is clearly written as white, for example, a script reads ‘she tied her blonde hair back,’ but there’s no specific reason for it, I will just put people on tape,” she explained during a Q&A session at the Sands Film Festival in Scotland on April 26. “And then it’s almost like I dare someone to question why I’ve done it, and they don’t. So then it just becomes normal. Years ago, I would get people saying, ‘did you read the brief?’ And I’d say yeah, and this is my interpretation of it, just like when you can read a book.”
Specific complaints regarding the casting of the film adaptation of the Emily Brontë romance novel were that Robbie, 34, was too old to play 18-year-old Catherine Earnshaw, and that Elordi’s fair complexion doesn’t align with Heathcliff, the foster son of the Earnshaw family, being described in the text as “dark-skinned.” And some of those unhappy with the casting took their disappointment to extremes.
“There was one Instagram comment that said the casting director should be shot,” Cochrane said. “But just wait till you see it, and then you can decide whether you want to shoot me or not. But you really don’t need to be accurate. It’s just a book. That is not based on real life. It’s all art.”
First off, don’t send death threats to anyone, especially not casting directors. As for what Kharmel Cochrane says… like, I believe in color-blind casting, especially with original scripts or when the project is making a certain point about race, i.e. what Bridgerton has been doing this whole time. But let’s be clear: Heathcliff was originally written as a “dark-skinned” man, and Cochrane’s color-blind casting led her to cast… a fair-skinned Australian. “I will just put people on tape” and then cast only white people?? And you’re proud of that? Anyway, I don’t even think Elordi’s casting was Cochrane’s call, I think this was all Emerald Fennell. Anyway, I’m sure this adaptation is going to be an absolute trainwreck! If Emerald even looks at Jane Eyre though…
Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi on the set of Emerald Fennell’s ‘WUTHERING HEIGHTS’. 📷
— Film Crave (@filmcrave.bsky.social) April 12, 2025 at 11:39 PM
First look at Margot Robbie on the set of Emerald Fennell’s ‘WUTHERING HEIGHTS’. 📷
— Film Crave (@filmcrave.bsky.social) March 22, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – FEBRUARY 24: Margot Robbie wearing Schiaparelli FW20 Couture arrives at the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on February 24, 2024 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 850579365, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Margot Robbie, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, CA – FEBRUARY 25:Margot Robbie at the 35th Annual Producers Guild Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom on February 25, 2024 in Hollywood, California. Copyright: xJeffreyxMayerx,Image: 850902899, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – APRIL 13: Margot Robbie wearing Rick Owens SS24 RTW and Jennifer Meyer jewels arrives at the 10th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on April 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 864760305, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Margot Robbie, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- Berlin, GERMANY – Actor Jacob Elordi attends the photo call of “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” during 75th Berlin Film Festival Berlinale in Berlin, Germany. Pictured: Jacob Elordi BACKGRID USA 15 FEBRUARY 2025 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Berlin, GERMANY – Actor Jacob Elordi attends the photo call of “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” during 75th Berlin Film Festival Berlinale in Berlin, Germany. Pictured: Jacob Elordi BACKGRID USA 15 FEBRUARY 2025 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Berlin, GERMANY – Actor Jacob Elordi attends the photo call of “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” during 75th Berlin Film Festival Berlinale in Berlin, Germany. Pictured: Jacob Elordi BACKGRID USA 15 FEBRUARY 2025 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
This is a lost opportunity to cast a person of colour in a period piece where the character is actually not white. Disappointing
I’m pretty sure the character was only “dark-skinned” as in being more olive complected, as opposed to fair. You know, a “tall, dark, and handsome” white guy. Before now, I’ve never heard anyone suggest Heathcliff was Black. That would have been a completely bonkers choice by Bronte, considering the time period in which the novel was written. It would be a cool choice for a modern interpretation, though.
Speaking of Bridgerton Rege Jean Page would have been great.
He would have been PERFECT as Heathcliffe, what about Riz Ahmed (he would have chewed the scenery off in the part). In fact given they cast an older actress as Cathy, they should have cast an older actor as Heathcliffe.
Hmm, maybe Dev Patel would have been a good choice?
UGH! Totally miscast. That is on my do not watch list for sure.
Yikes, Margot here looks nothing like an unsure, teen-aged Catherine – more like she’d beat you about the head and shoulders if you don’t do exactly what she wants.
Let’s put even the age issue aside, Margot now has the perfect Hollywood face. She honestly looks weird in a period movie. I don’t think casting director did a good job here with both actors. But, Margot is also producing the movie. So, I guess that affected the casting decision.
Oh my gosh I literally just posted the same thing! (before reading your comment). BIG AGREE. Instagram face does not fit in with period pieces!
So I am all for color blind casting, and I am also all good with age-blind casting as long as the actor can really nail the performance. However…in addition to a huge miss by not casting a POC in a role that was explicitly written as a POC….I have to say that as drop dead gorgeous as Margot Robbie is, her “Instagram face” is a distraction in a period piece.
Casting a younger actor with more youthful fat on her face might have sold the 18-year old better. We as a people are losing individual beauty in pursuit of a Kardashian-like mold where everyone has a defined jaw line, puffy lips, big eyes, and 5% body fat.
The beauty standards of Wuthering Heights were vastly different. In fact, double chins were considered youthful and beautiful. It is just a shame that many hollywood actors now all look alike as it becomes difficult to lose yourself watching a film. It is so clear that these are actors playing a part, it becomes hard for the actor to disappear into the role.
So when a role is right there – crafted specifically as a person of color….and they miss on it….that is a massive shame.
And then when a role is right there….for a non-Instagram face young woman, and they cast a woman who literally played Barbie….it is just a shame.
Our differences which should be celebrated, are being white washed in so many ways.
Robbie can act, she is gorgeous, and I understand her desire to use her producer credits to shake off the modern damsel typecast. Still, she´s too old for the role. Elordi will do his best and he looks like a decent Earnshaw, but it´s hard to believe that a so-called color blind casting resulted on no non-white actor being able to play a dark skin character. The guys who played siblings in A good girl´s guide to murder didn´t cut it? Rene-Jean? Dev Patel?
Heahcliff, not Earnshaw! Now I wish they´d dyed Elordi blond to play Earnshaw.
Emerald Fennell is the worst, 100% nepo baby who had an insane career just handed to her in a plate with zero experience just because of her connections! I hate the UK so much sometimes, it’s still under the freaking feudal system.
I hate the whole story of Withering Heights, but my impression of Heathcliff is that he was of “gypsy” heritage so this guy isn’t too far off the mark, but who knows. If there is one thing Hollywood does incredibly well, it’s screw up classics and books. Don’t get me started on the Demi Moore version of The Scarlet Letter, they should gave just made a movie called Demi Moore’s Breasts.
As much as I love Margot Robbie, her casting is just as off. Big no.
Yes, I always thought Heathcliff was Roma.
I have never understood the appeal of Wuthering Heights as a story, so I’m not really invested in this one, but I do have to wonder if we’re looking at another Barbie situation, where the casting moves seem bonkers to all of us with our preconceived notions of what the movie will be, and in fact the director has a whole vision that makes it all make sense in the end. From what I understand, Emerald Fennell tends to do fairly biting satire in her work, so a direct adaptation of a period classic seems unlikely.
Can someone with a fashion or textiles background tell me what time period Cathy’s dresses are from? My guess is somewhere in the latter half of the 19th century? If the movie acknowledges that it’s set in a different time period than the original novel, fine. The Olivier version, which cuts out the entire second half of the book, was definitely set in a different time period. I still love that one for Olivier alone. Shakespeare’s plays have been set in all sorts of different time periods so why not Bronte? There are so many damn film adaptations of this novel, why not do something different? Otherwise, it just gets boring.
As for Elordi, the only thing I’ve ever seen him in is The Kissing Booth where his acting was…not good. Has he gotten better?
Sure Jan. Your “interpretation of it” is casting the (too old, sorry) actress who also happens to be producing the movie and is good friends with the director, and pairing her with the (white) heartthrob actor who led same director’s last movie.
She sounds like she has the same flippant attitude that Fennell does, honestly. That line about “almost like I’m daring people to question me.” That’s fine when you’re actually making bold, interesting decisions that are respectful to and enrich the material. In this case, it feels like both of them just saying they are in charge and can do what they want, screw the text and screw you too.
I like both of these actors and think they’re talented. They are also both miscast. I can’t really fault Elordi for taking the role, but Margot is a producer and the film world is her oyster. Casting herself seems really self-indulgent and I’m a little disappointed in her, tbh.
I don’t even particularly like Wuthering Heights. I’m a “Jane Eyre” girl too. I don’t have a dream fan cast in my head. But if I did, this sure wouldn’t be it.
Heathcliff’s intended ethnicity is a matter of speculation. There is a school of thought that Heathcliff was Irish. The book was published in 1847 at the height of the Irish famine when desperate Irish people were emigrating, particularly to Liverpool where Heathcliff is found. People from the worst hit Irish Famine areas would have been native Irish, not English, speakers. The Brontës father was Irish. Some Irish people are dark complexioned. Speculation. I have no problem with them casting anyone in the role basically. On the other hand while I really like Margot that is very poor casting.
Cathy had dark hair. Said so in the book. Also displaying cleavage at this time period was frowned on. She was a teenager. I can go along with dark complexion of an Irishman but Margo as Cathy is pathetic.
I hated reading the book when I was doing my licence degree but even for me this casting is f-ed up. It doesn’t make any sense.