To begin, 34-year-old Margot Robbie plays 18-year-old Catherine Earnshaw - bringing to the table the question of playing age. Can beautiful, recognisable Robbie embody a sickly Yorkshire teenager? Despite her unbelievable talent, the question of realism hangs in the air. Jacob Elordi, 27, plays 37-year-old Heathcliff. Whilst more realistic than Robbie's discrepancies, fans question the casting of "iPhone face" Elordi. They argue that Elordi's face looks too much like he has seen a phone before, making him unfit to play reclusive 1800s antagonist Heathcliff.
The film has a reputation to uphold, controversial casting to overcome and a vast array of competition
How to cast a period film in an age when most Westerners have known nothing but the digital age - that is the question. Is it possible to find an actor who looks like they have never seen an iPhone without conducting an isolating social experiment? Do we trust a costume and makeup department to transform Elordi into an unrecognisable character, like we do most production teams? Or is the iPhone face unbeatable? Our faith must lie in Fennell’s directing choices until the film is released.
More pressing than Elordi's facial structure, the public have criticised the casting choice for its ignorance to Heathcliff's racial identity. The topic of the antagonist’s ethnicity has always been controversial, with readers arguing both that he was depicted as a person of colour and that his ethnicity was irrelevant to his character. To quote chapter one of the novel, Heathcliff is described as, ‘a dark-skinned gypsy in aspect.’ Is it in bad faith to remove this aspect from his character, and to destroy any analysis of the novel from an intersectional (racial and class) perspective?
Fennell could surprise audiences with a ground-breaking new perspective on the classic story, and her casting choices may later be understood by the audience. Her selection of Elordi and Robbie could rely on their current popularity following Saltburn and Barbie, but maybe these two actors will portray an incredibly devastating take on Catherine and Heathcliff’s love story. The film has a reputation to uphold, controversial casting to overcome and a vast array of competition - will audiences move past Elordi’s "iPhone face" long enough to discover how enjoyable this film actually is? ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emerald Fennell is due for a 2025 shot, so the answer is in our sight!
