Following Saltburn and Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell is taking on Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.
Emerald Fennell has made a name for herself thus far, helming a brace of films that contend with the darker elements of human nature. Obsession. Sex. Revenge. Death.
Both Promising Young Woman and Saltburn were brimming with these ideas and came straight from the pen of the writer/director. The former even won Fennell and Oscar for Best Original Screenplay while Saltburn was one of the most talked about films of last year, becoming a pop-culture phenomenon, even if it had its fair share of detractors too.
Emerald Fennell has now announced her next project and even though she’s not coming up with an original story this time, the themes and beats of her next project will definitely be in line with the filmmaker’s interests. Emily Brontë’s 1847 classic novel, Wuthering Heights will be the next Emerald Fennell film.
The director announced the project on X, along with a hand-drawn image that leans into the gothic darkness that Brontë’s novel is full of. As a memorable scene in the UK sitcom Peep Show once covered, some folks tend to misconstrue Wuthering Heights as a romance when there is actually some very, very dark stuff in there.
We mentioned obsession, sex, revenge and death already when summarising the themes of Fennell’s body of work so far, and there’s little doubt that they are the ideas that underpin Wuthering Heights.
Published by Brontë under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, a year before her death, ‘Wuthering Heights is set in the Yorkshire moors and revolves around the intense and often destructive relationships between two families: the Earnshaws and the Lintons. The narrative is framed by Mr. Lockwood, a tenant at Thrushcross Grange, who learns about the tumultuous history of Wuthering Heights through Nelly Dean, a long-time servant. The core of the novel is the passionate and tragic love story between Heathcliff, an orphan adopted by Mr. Earnshaw, and Mr. Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine.’
While there’s no indication how far Fennell’s take will push the darker elements of the story, we wouldn’t be surprised to see her push these themes further than any screen adaptation we’ve yet seen.
Last year’s Saltburn featured a very memorable scene that saw Barry Keoghan and a grave enjoy something of an encounter in a shocking (and wildly entertaining) moment – we can see Fennell’s Wuthering Heights looking to push the same types of buttons for a new generation that hasn’t seen this novel adapted before. Just without a bathroom scene, and any Sophie Ellis Bextor music.
Casting for this one is going to be very interesting indeed. We’ll bring you more as we hear it.
