EXCLUSIVE From Deadline|London editor Tim Adler: At one point, Gossip Girl‘s Ed Westwick was set to be Heathcliff opposite Bond girl Gemma Arterton. And, before that, Natalie Portman was going to be Cathy opposite Michael Fassbender. Now, a new version of Wuthering Heights will be rebooted as a Twilight story of forbidden teenage love with a cast of unknown to give the Ecosse Films pic a new young audience. So believes producer Kevin Loader who told me this is the most exciting spin on the UK classic he can imagine. It has to be, considering I’ve counted at least 15 features and TV adaptations so far, including foreign-language versions made by Luis Bunuel and Jacques Rivette. Andrea Arnold is the third person to sit in the director’s chair already. (She won a BAFTA for her 2006 Red Road and an Oscar in 2004 for her short film Wasp.) Indeed, if you read Wuthering Heights, the tragic lovers are only teenagers when they meet: Cathy’s 19 when she dies in childbirth (oops, just gave away a major plot point), while Heathcliff only reaches 30 in the second half of the classic. But the clock is ticking. Filming is due to start in Yorkshire for 6 weeks at the end of April, and casting director Gail Stevens is still looking for another Kristen and Robert and Taylor.

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