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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This is good news, for me. I love this story and was not excited about the possibility of Ed Westwick as Heathcliff. Tom Hardy & Charlotte Riley were my favorite Heathcliff & Catherine. I look forward to seeing what Arnold does with it. Come on Gail, don’t let us down!
Wuthering Heights is a classic, respect it !!
Keira Knightley & Rupert Friend (they would be perfect)
or
Saoirse Ronan & Alex Pettyfer(if they insist on teenagers)
or
Gemma Arterton & Robert Pattinson (Princess of Persia + Edward Cullen = MONEYMONEYMONEY)
or
Claire Foy & Tom Sturridge (both of them are EXCELLENT actors)
or
Kimberley Nixon & Nicholas Hoult (why not?)
They don’t need to fix something that’s not broken…
Trust Hollywood to come up with a way to break something that isn’t.
Twilighting Wuthering Heights is a surefire way.
Agreed.
Too bad, Ed Westwick would’ve been so cool.
Scott Michael Foster (Cappie in GREEK) would be just as cool, of course. At least one cast member with a fanbase could help this re-imagining greatly. Doesn’t mean that Robert Pattinson has to be in every picture, though.
Someone suggested Keira Knightley? Get real. Yawn. I’m somehow totally over her. I’d much rather see someone like Nina Dobrev, whom I haven’t seen a gazillion times in flimsy clothes.
Make Heathcliff black. Just sayin’. It’s practically there in the book anyway (read it).
He’s actually not black – there are multiple points in the book that indicate while he is not white, he’s not black.
I think they did settle on a black actor to play the part though.
I personally did not like Ed Westwick for this.
Nobody seems to get the actors right, I did love Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy though. I think they did a wonderful job.
I think Keira Knightley would make a perfect Cathy. The idea of Heathcliff is not to make him ‘pretty’. Ed Westwick was not well suited to play him. I think Tom Hardy perfected it, I just think that the movie had been altered A LOT, it would have been nice if it were more like the book. . .
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Might need to read it again. Heatcliff and Cathy grew up together, as her father brought him home at a young age after finding him on the streets in London. I’ve always found this book fascinating how a good deed on the father’s part, and subsequent hatred heaped upon Heathcliff, destroyed two families.
Tom Hardy was an excellent Heatcliff, but then again he is excellent in every role.
This version of teenagers, you know if will be the dumbest thing ever, for dumb audiences.
I love Andrea Arnold’s filmmaking, thought ‘Fish Tank’ was excruciatingly brilliant. She makes a beeline for every taboo, every dangerous, squirmy character choice, and all of it tense and sexual and discomforting. So maybe she’ll bring something dangerous and interesting to WH. But still…do we need another freakin’ version of this old warhorse? Surely she’s been offered more interesting things than this? And to be discussing it in relation to ‘Twilight’? She’s so far beyond that. Putting this in a ‘Twilight’ context does not do her justice.
What!?! No Graphic Novel prior to the film, no line of toys to base the characters on, no all midget cast? Just a another Rembrandt to put a tweeny foot through for a dumbed down film generation.
Why does everyone seem to think that gen Y is ignorant? I resent that.
I personally LOVE reading – Wuthering Heights is my favourite book. I understand it and do not want or need it to be ‘dumbed down’. I know that many people in my generation have simplistic minds and cannot comprehend a lot of the language involved in the book and films that have been made, but I quite prefer the more sophisticated language, however, I resent that everyone talks about a ‘dumb generation’. I personally have a better vocabulary than a lot of people (both my age and older) and dislike that I am assumed to be stupid due to my birth date. If I were to assume that because there are indigenous people that have been convicted of murder that ALL indigenous people are murderers simply because of their skin colour, I would be called a racist.
Don’t these boneheaded producers understand that Twilight is a fucking piece of horribly written shit? So what if it’s successful? It’s also a fucking piece of Morman propaganda trash.
Wuthering Heights is perfectly fine as it is. It doesn’t need to be dumbed down to please those retarded Twilight fangirls.
Enough with the reboots/remakes/re-imaginings/prequels/sequels. Enough with the Twilight-ification of everything that contains a romantic triangle.
Hey Hollywood producers, why don’t you “reboot” Romeo and Juliet while you’re at it? Give it the Twilight treatment and shoot it in 3D! It’ll be the new Avatar!!!
Even as a fan of twilight, I have to agree with just about everything you had to say. I have no idea why I like the books or the movies, yes I know they are crap but yet, I get sucked in everytime, but to change classics like these to appeal to tweens is a disgusting premise. Cast people they have heard of (some people that were suggested above sounded alright) yet still know how to act in the roles but don’t dumb down a movie for a bunch of brats. Maybe just maybe if they watch some quality films they might grow half a brain and learn to appreciate literature in some form, since we know most of them won’t pick up a book to save their lives.
If they are really looking to identify new talent, perhaps they should consider Fu’ad Aït Aattou, who was both subtle and refreshing in The Last Mistress.
Why not revise how the story has been told? A fresh take on an old story and fresh faces are clearly the key ingredients to Twilight’s success.
I have been waiting for this film and thought it would be a great role for Ed. Deeply disappointed!!
A.M.
Are you high ? Michael Foster and Nina Dobrew ? Wuthering Heights is a true BRITISH classic and it deserves authentic actors with TALENT. Keira Knightley would fit in perfectly.
Nothing against these two but they haven’t shown an acting chops yet.
This is so sad. I could so see Ed in thie role. He is a really good actor and really great at angst and deep emotional scenes. He would have been an excellent Heathcliff! This sucks I don’t think I even want to see the film anymore
Wuthering Heights is a British classic book . I don’t want to see a Twilighted Wuthering Heights . Not that i have anything against Twilight yet if i wanted to see Twilight i would choose the original one ! Why can anybody understand that there is nothing in common between the both ?
I am sure that Ed Westwick would be perfect for Heathcliff . And i believe that Natalia Dormer would be very good for Cathy . Also Saroise Ronan would be fine too.
Hey , check out this:
As Heathcliff : Rupert Fried
As Cathy : Natalie Dormer
As Edgar: Guy Pearce
As Isabella: Kimberley Nixon
As Nelly : Emma Thompson
As Catherine: Romola Garai
As Hidley Joseph Fiennes
As Frances : Anne Hathaway
As Linton : Tom Felton
As Hearton : Ben Whishaw
As Lonkwood : Kenneth Branagh