Wuthering Heights Controversy: Emerald Fennell Responds

Whatever Wuthering Heights’ soul is made of, Emerald Fennell’s and Emily Brontë’s are not the same. 

As the writer and director of the new adaptation starring Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff and Margot Robbie as Catherine received plentiful criticism for the film, she has attempted to share her approach to developing the beloved classic—and that’s why she added quotation marks to officially call her movie “Wuthering Heights.”

“You can’t adapt a book as difficult and complicated and difficult as this book,” Emerald explained in a recent interview with Fandango. “I can’t say I’m making Wuthering Heights. It’s not possible. What I can say is I’m making a version of it.”

Indeed, as many audience members familiar with the book continue to note the discrepancies—including changing the ending, Cathy’s literal ‘skin room’ made from visuals of Margot’s actual skin and limiting the Isabella Linton character—Emerald had emphasized that she was not attempting to make a true adaptation. 

“There was a version I remembered reading that isn’t quite real,” she explained. “And there’s a version where I wanted stuff to happen that never happened. And so it’s Wuthering Heights and it isn’t.”