Experts weigh in on Jacob Elordi's casting in 'Wuthering Heights'

Jacob Elordi’s casting as Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s upcoming Wuthering Heights has left literary experts in the UK reeling.

It was revealed on Monday that Elordi and Margot Robbie are set to play the lead roles of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw in the new Emily Brontë adaptation.

The film will be written, directed and produced by Saltburn director Fennell.

Elordi’s casting is being questioned as Heathcliff was described as a “dark-skinned gypsy” who was abandoned as a baby at the slave port of Liverpool, indicating that he wasn’t white.

Michael Stewart, director of the Brontë Writing Centre, weighed in on the casting, telling The Daily Telegraph newspaper: “With Wuthering Heights, you’ve had many years of white actors playing the more ambiguous ethnic character… But things are different now, the way we represent certain people in art and culture comes with a responsibility now that wasn’t there 20 years ago.”

Dr Claire O’Callaghan, editor-in-chief of the official journal of the Brontë Society, told the publication: “I guess the danger of this – of casting a white actor – particularly in the cultural climate, is that it overlooks the ambiguity that’s there.”

Heathcliff has previously been played by Tom Hardy in a 2009 television adaptation of Wuthering Heights for ITV. However, Andrea Arnold’s 2011 movie cast James Howson in the role against Kaya Scodelario as Cathy.