- Fans took to social media to voice their dismay at Shazad Latif’s role in the new adaptation of Wuthering Heights
- Many feel that he should have been cast in the lead role of Heathcliff
- The part has instead gone to Jacob Elordi
It’s set to be one of the biggest films of the next few years.
And now more cast news has been announced for the latest adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
Back in September, it was revealed that Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi would be taking on the leading roles of Catherine ‘Cathy’ Earnshaw and Heathcliff in the latest adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel. Robbie will also be producing the film, through her company, LuckyChap.
Fast forward two months, and more cast news has come out for the movie, which will be written and directed by Emerald Fennell – the brains behind Saltburn and Promising Young Woman.
Playing Elordi’s sister in Saltburn, Alison Oliver will this time be his onscreen wife, Isabella Linton. Shazad Latif, who starred opposite Lily James in the rom-com What’s Love Got to Do with It? will portray Isabella’s brother and Cathy’s husband, Edgar; and Oscar nominee Hong Chau (Downsizing, The Whale) has reportedly taken the part of one of the film’s narrators, Nelly Dean.
Elordi’s casting riles fans
The decision to cast Elordi as Brontë’s Byronic hero had already been met with controversy.
Throughout the novel, Heathcliff is treated as an outcast due to the racism of both the Linton and Earnshaw families – so many found it curious that Elordi would be portraying the character, as he is white.
“Emily Bronte describing Heathcliff: ‘dark-skinned gipsy, ‘a little Lascar’, ‘as dark almost as if it came from the devil.’ Hollywood casting director: So basically a white man with a tan then?,” noted one fan.
Another said, “Just a not so friendly reminder: Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights is explicitly dark skin and Romani, and his experiences as a man of color influence his entire character and story as a man suffering racist abuse from his adoptive family.”
‘It’s nasty work!’
So while fans welcomed Latif to the movie, some questioned the thought process of the casting directors.
“The audacity to cast Shazad Latif in the gothic romance of all time and he’s not the main lead,” wrote one via Twitter/X. “It’s mad.”
Another added, “I think we all have to admit that Emerald is a right winger in disguise because how the f*** do you cast Elordi as Heathcliff, but the actual person of color you cast (Shazad Latif) is playing the white oppressor? Is Fennell on fentanyl or what?”
Someone else noted, “So the man who should play Heathcliff…….. isn’t playing Heathcliff? WTF!?”
“So she cast Jacob Elordi as the notably ‘othered’ person of color and then cast a person of color as the upper class white nobility character,” said another. “Why is she pulling a reverse racism in front of our very eyes, this is crazy.”
Claiming the decision was “nasty work”, Brontë’s newer fans were equally as riled up by the news.
“I’m like 50 pages into Wuthering Heights and I already want to fight whoever’s behind the casting decisions,” wrote one person.
However, others were hopeful.
“I feel like we got baited when it comes to the Wuthering Heights movie, and Alison Oliver will actually be Cathy and Shazad Latif will be Heathcliff,” said one optimistic fan. “Jacob Elordi is actually Edgar and Margot Robbie is Nelly. Trust.”
