Wuthering

This little town in Yorkshire is ideal for fans of Emily Bronte’s gothic story thanks to its wild and rugged surroundings, and nearby attractions that might just be haunted…

Sometimes, when a storm hits the UK, rain batters the pavements and wind whips the trees, it’s easy to feel swept up in the kind of awe-inspiring conditions that helped Emily Brontë to write her classic novel, Wuthering Heights.

There is a little town in Yorkshire, 100miles from Cathy and Heathcliff’s home, but steeped in as much Gothic drama, where every day feels like you’ve tumbled into such dark Victorian melodrama.

As I stepped aboard my coach bound for Whitby, I imagined a sleepy seaside town, much like those down south that slowly emerge as you drive along the road towards the sea. What I got was very different.

Just getting to Whitby was a beautiful journey. The town is nestled between the rugged expanse of the moors and the wild thrashing of the North Sea. In days gone by, travellers would only be able to access it if they hiked for miles along the hills and valleys of the North York Moors or braved the violent waves of the sea. Now, we have cars and trains, but both still take you over the moors.

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As my coach sped through the twists and turns of the roads across the moors, I was like a child, with my face pressed against the window. There wasn’t a soul for miles, just acres and acres of heather. Once in Whitby, when you hear the waves crash against the sea defences and feel the wind whistle past your ears, it’s easy to see how someone might think a faint voice calling for Heathcliff was coming over their shoulder.

The town itself is split into two halves. The newer section was built following the Second World War, but much of the town is older and filled with Georgian terraces. Even older is Whitby Abbey, whose ruins stand proudly at the top of a cliff and have inspired many a tale, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

If you walk along the coast from the nearby villages of Saltmoore and Sandsend, the gothic ruins stay within your sightline. Lucky hikers will get to see the sea fog – which locals used to believe was the fiery breath of a dragon – come in to cover the abbey. You’ll feel like you’re trekking the same paths Heathcliff did as he searched for Catherine’s ghost, not least because Emerald Fennell’s new film was shot about two hours away, in the Yorkshire Dales.

The most remarkable sight comes when you walk back towards Whitby, as when the fog clears, the Abbey can be seen looming through a gap between the cliffs. It’s terrifying and awe-inspiring all at once. I felt drawn towards the ruins, much as Cathy is drawn to Heathcliff or as an entranced Lucy is drawn to Dracula. How could anyone resist such a terrible sight?

Indeed, not Whitby residents of years gone by. Whitby Storyteller, Rose Rylands, who tells of the myths of the moors. When Rose spoke about the ghostly figures said to appear on the hilltops, goosebumps pebbled my skin, as if I was walking with them myself.

The tale of Bram’s inspiration in Whitby was similarly haunting. During a holiday, the author stayed on the West Cliff, offering views of the Abbey, which he felt suited the Gothic atmosphere of his story. One day, he turned to the local library to research a shipwreck, only to discover the name ‘Dracula’ in the records. Its meaning in the Wallachian language, Bram learned, is ‘devil’.

When Rose told us these tales, the winter’s night pressing against the hostel windows, my heart started to beat faster. I began to wonder if I, too, would soon be hallucinating the ghost of lost love calling to me.

Of course, Heathcliff’s hallucinations of Cathy’s ghost all happen at night, and there really is nowhere better to see the stars than the North York Moors. The national park is a designated International Dark Sky Reserve, one of only 25 in the world, protected from light pollution and able to provide clear horizons, clouds permitting. As someone who grew up in London and finds it hard to sleep without the orange glow of streetlights coming in through the curtains, just standing in complete darkness is a wonder. When the stars are visible, there are no words.

We went to Castle Howard, a stately home that has served as a filming location for Brideshead Revisited and Bridgerton, to see the stars. Except for the enormous house, there is nothing around for miles, leaving the sky unpolluted by light. Inside, the house is equally beautiful.

The entrance hall is a vast space whose domed ceiling has been painted with the most gorgeous fresco of cherubs – it’s similar to Michelangelo’s painting The Creation of Adam, which decorates the Sistine Chapel. The whole place feels like an art gallery, really. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that people actually live there, but they do. The family is very involved in ensuring the house and its heritage remain standing strong.

Flouncing around the house, through the rooms, and then eventually into the cold and dark night definitely made me feel like I was Cathy after she had married Edgar Linton. Castle Howard has all the opulence of Thrushcross Grange, and it was easy to slip into the role of the new wife enjoying her surroundings. Heading out to see the stars, with the house behind me, had my heart racing, as though I could really see Heathcliff across the moors at Wuthering Heights.

If you want to really live in the kind of luxury that the Earnshaws did (without the madness and rooms where the wallpaper is modelled after Margot Robbie’s skin), the Saltmoore Hotel and Spa is the place to go. Just slightly removed from the touristy bustle of Whitby, the hotel is extremely peaceful. My room was a huge and managed to fit in a double bed, a giant shower (with underfloor heating) and two incredibly comfortable armchairs where you can sit and you listen out for ghosts at the window.

Additionally, the staff couldn’t be more helpful. They even lend you wellies for a walk along the beach. Fingers crossed the next time I go, I’ll be better prepared. And best believe, I will be back. For costume drama fans, there really is nowhere better to be.

Book it

Rose can be booked for walking tours of Whitby via her website.

You can find out more on visitengland.com and visitnorthyorkshire.com. Rooms at the Saltmoore Hotel and Spa start from £311 a night, based on two adults sharing.

Rooms at Saltmoore Hotel and Spa start at £236.

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In its opening credits, Oscar-winning director Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” self-identifies as “based on the novel by Emily Brontë.”

Yet as Fennell has proved in a slew of interviews about the already polemical film, released Friday, the relationship between Brontë’s Gothic epic and its latest adaptation is more complicated than that.

Penned by a young female author perpetually adrift in the dark world of fantasy, “Wuthering Heights” is a transgressive novel today and was exponentially more so at the time of its publication in 1847. Its protagonists are vengeful, and its romances — including Catherine Earnshaw (Cathy) and Heathcliff’s — are ridden with violence, both psychological and physical. While Fennell’s film anchors itself in Brontë’s narrative landscape, it also takes creative liberties in service of approximating the director’s personal experience reading it as a teen.

Whereas Brontë’s novel contains “mere glimmers of physical intimacy,” Fennell’s picture is erotic, laden with steamy scenes inserted from the director’s imagination.

“They’re part of the book of my head,” Fennell recently told The Times. “I think they’re part of the book of all of our heads.”

Some book purists beg to differ with Fennell’s interpretation. Well in advance of the film’s release, the director was criticized for casting her former “Saltburn” collaborator Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, who is repeatedly described throughout Brontë’s novel as non-white. Brontë fans have also accused the director of reducing a complex work rife with social critique into a popcorn romance.

Perhaps anticipating such backlash, Fennell in a recent interview with Fandango explained her decision to enclose the film’s title in quotation marks, saying, “You can’t adapt a book as dense and complicated and difficult as this book.”

“I can’t say I’m making ‘Wuthering Heights.’ It’s not possible,” the director said. “What I can say is I’m making a version of it.”

Here are seven ways Fennell’s interpretation of “Wuthering Heights” differs from its source material.

Fennell’s Heathcliff is white

Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” leaves Heathcliff’s racial identity ambiguous, with characters referring to him as a “gipsy brat,” “lascar” and “Spanish castaway” at different points throughout the novel. But one thing is clear: He is not white.

As the Lousiana State Unversity professor Elsie Michie writes in the academic journal article, “From Simianized Irish to Oriental Despots: Heathcliff, Rochester and Racial Difference,” Heathcliff’s racial othering is how “he becomes, for others, a locus of both fear and desire.” In other words, Heathcliff’s role in the novel, and thus his fraught romance with Cathy, is predicated upon his non-white identity.

Fennell’s film instead relies on class differences — and a meddling Nelly (to be discussed later) — to form the rift between its love interests.

Cathy’s brother dies young

When Mr. Earnshaw presents a young Cathy with her companion-to-be early in the film, she declares that she will name him Heathcliff, “after my dead brother.”

For the remainder of the film, Brontë’s character Hindley Earnshaw is subsumed into Mr. Earnshaw. Rather than Hindley, it is Mr. Earnshaw who devolves into the drunk gambling addict whose vices force him to cede Wuthering Heights to Heathcliff. Mr. Earnshaw’s abuse of young Heathcliff in the film makes the latter’s revenge plot more personal than his book counterpart’s against Hindley.

Cathy meets Edgar Linton as an adult

In Brontë’s novel, Cathy and Heathcliff first encounter their neighbors, the Lintons, after an outdoor escapade gone awry. Cathy gets bitten in the ankle by an aggressive dog and stays at the Lintons’ for a few weeks to heal.

Cathy sustains a similar injury in the film, but this time, she’s an adult woman, who falls from the Thrushcross Grange garden wall after attempting to spy on its grown residents Edgar and Isabella. (In the book, the two are siblings. Here, Isabella is referred to as Edgar’s “ward.”)

Aside from providing some comic relief, Fennell’s revision also fast-tracks the marriage plot that severs Cathy and Heathcliff.

Nelly is a meddler, and a spiteful one

Whereas Brontë writes Nelly as a largely passive narrator, Fennell abandons the frame narrative structure altogether and instead fashions the housekeeper into a complex character with significant control over Cathy’s life.

It is she who ensures Heathcliff overhears Cathy as she laments how marrying him would degrade her, causing him to flee Wuthering Heights and leave Cathy to marry Edgar. Nelly’s ploy comes shortly after Cathy demeans the housekeeper, claiming that she wouldn’t understand Cathy’s predicament given she’s never loved anyone, and no one has ever loved her. Thus, Nelly is characterized as vengeful toward Cathy — although, as the latter lies in her death bed, the two share a brief moment that complicates their relationship to each other.

Regardless, Fennell gives Nelly and Cathy’s relationship psychological depth that Brontë’s novel doesn’t seem to afford them.

Cathy and Heathcliff have sex (and a lot of it)

Brontë’s Cathy and Heathcliff never explicitly (in the text) consummate their professed undying love, save for a few kisses just before Cathy breathes her last.

Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights,” on the other hand, grants them an entire Bridgerton-style sex montage — they even get hot and heavy in a carriage. It’s nearly impossible to keep count of the “I love you”s exchanged during the pair’s rendezvous.

These smutty sequences certainly validate the Valentine’s Eve release.

Isabella is a willing submissive

One particular still of Alison Oliver’s Isabella is already making the rounds online, and for good reason. The shot, which depicts the young woman engaging in BDSM-style puppy play, is a stark contrast to Brontë’s characterization of Isabella as a victim of domestic violence.

In Brontë’s book, Isabella marries Heathcliff naively believing he might shape up into a gentleman and flees with their son when she realizes that is out of the question. In the film, Heathcliff is clear from their first romantic encounter that he does not love Isabella, will never love her and pursues her only to torture Cathy — and the young woman still chooses to be with him.

There is no second generation

Perhaps Fennell’s most glaring diversion from her source material is her complete omission of the second half of Brontë’s novel, which centers on a second generation comprised of Cathy and Edgar’s daughter Catherine Linton, Heathcliff and Isabella’s son Linton Heathcliff and Hindley and his wife Frances’ son Hareton Earnshaw.

In her introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of “Wuthering Heights,” Brontë scholar Pauline Nestor writes that many literary critics interpret the novel’s latter half as “signifying the restoration of order and balance in the second generation after the excesses and disruption of the first generation,” while others contend the violence that stains Cathy and Heathcliff’s relationship is bound to be replicated by their children. Either way, the structure of Brontë’s novel encourages readers to interpret each half through the lens of the other.

Fennell’s film instead ends where Brontë’s first act closes, hyper-focused on Cathy and Heathcliff. In the same way the doomed lovers see each other, Fennell figures them as the center of the world.

The gothic village of Haworth in West Yorkshire is home to the Brontë Parsonage Museum where Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë penned their classic novels including Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.

A charming gothic British village, brimming with independent shops and a cosy atmosphere, is ‘well worth a visit’. This ‘mysterious’ spot was once home to the Brontë sisters, including Emily, the author of the classic novel Wuthering Heights.

Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë are among Britain’s most revered literary siblings. As the new film adaptation of Wuthering Heights premieres in UK cinemas tonight (February 13), the village of Haworth in West Yorkshire makes for an ideal weekend getaway.

With its unique brooding character, Haworth overlooks the moors where the new film was shot, transporting visitors back in time with its cobbled streets and historic alleyways. Some of these cobbled lanes even lead to an ancient church and cemetery where novelists Emily and Charlotte Brontë are laid to rest.

Anne Brontë, the youngest sibling, is also buried at St Michael & All Angels Church cemetery in Haworth. The three sisters wrote seven novels here, including Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

The village’s main street boasts ‘absolutely wonderful’ establishments, including shops with a mystical witchy vibe, a ‘heavenly’ sweet shop, and numerous unique gift and book stores to explore, reports the Express.

Food and shopping

The ‘magical’ establishments dotted throughout Haworth offer a gothic atmosphere, whilst the village is surrounded by stunning moorland and countryside, near to where the latest Wuthering Heights film was shot.

Spooks of Haworth functions as a ‘spiritual emporium’ in the village, selling crystals and gifts whilst offering tarot card readings. It first opened its doors in 1983 in Haworth, the heart of Brontë Country.

One visitor described the establishment as ‘magical, mysterious, and totally wonderful’ located in a ‘beautiful gothic village, well worth a visit’.

Another ‘fabulous little shop’ is The Cabinet Of Curiosities in the village, which one recent guest called a ‘little piece of heaven’, reviewing this treasure trove as ‘so interesting’.

“Every detail in the shop was very well presented, down to wrapping. It was like an adult sweet shop, of smelly stuff and other treasures”, they wrote.

The Haworth Artisan Market also features prominently amongst the village’s attractions on TripAdvisor. Despite only running one Sunday each month, it draws significant numbers of visitors and residents.

To capture the Wuthering Heights atmosphere, there are several must-see locations in the area:

Haworth Moors

Exploring the Haworth Moors, the setting for Wuthering Heights, can be done on foot or alternatively, aboard the historic Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. This heritage railway offers a journey on vintage steam locomotives.

One can even indulge in afternoon tea on board, as one reviewer who embarked on this rail journey three months ago with an all-day rover ticket attested. They described it as a ‘very enjoyable day and highly recommended’.

The same reviewer of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway shared: “Just had the traditional afternoon tea experience, absolutely blown away. Fantastic food, excellent service, in short a really brilliant day, when I felt I got full value for my money.

“There is a nice selection of sandwiches, meringues/ macaroons and large scones with cream and jam.”

Holdsworth House – an ideal place to stay

This stunning four-star hotel is a “Jacobean manor built in 1633, set just outside Halifax in West Yorkshire”.

Situated a mere 20-minute drive from Haworth, the Holdsworth House website describes it as a “historic, quietly grand house” that provides a “calm, atmospheric base for visiting the Brontë Parsonage, Haworth itself and the wider landscape of Brontë country that shaped Wuthering Heights”.

Low Row, Richmondshire

Stone-built houses and sweeping countryside vistas served as the backdrop for the new film. The area is surrounded by countryside, offering the ideal setting for ramblers seeking a scenic route through the Dales, with the cosy Punch Bowl Inn waiting at the end – where you can savour a pint or a cup of Yorkshire Tea.

Top Withens, West Yorkshire

Devotees of the novel and films will want to include this location on their route, as the derelict farmhouse is believed to have inspired Wuthering Heights. Beginning from St Michael’s Church in Haworth, this walk leads you through Penistone Hill Country Park before reaching the Brontë waterfall and bridge – an ideal spot for photographs.

Swaledale

As one of the principal dales featured on screen, Swaledale’s limestone valley, stone barns and open moorland serve as the setting for numerous key exterior scenes. Today, it’s a sanctuary for slow travellers, providing tranquil riverside walks, historic mining remnants and picture-postcard villages such as Reeth (which acted as a production base and is anticipated to appear in or around multiple scenes).

Arkengarthdale

Also identified as a significant filming location, Arkengarthdale delivers rugged valley vistas and remote moorland backdrops that feature in various exterior sequences. Its quiet lanes, high moors and sense of remoteness make it perfect for visitors wanting to experience the raw, windswept landscapes that characterise Wuthering Heights.

Brontë Parsonage Museum Furthermore, on the edge of the countryside leading towards the moorland lies the Brontë Parsonage Museum – an absolute must for enthusiasts of the Brontë sisters’ literature, as this was the family home throughout the 1800s.

According to the museum’s website: “We have the largest collection of Brontë items in the world, offering fascinating insight into the life and times of Yorkshire’s famous literary family.”

Yorkshire’s historic towns

Byway’s has also developed a Historic Towns in Yorkshire trip, making it straightforward for visitors to discover these landscapes for themselves, journeying by rail through cities and market towns such as York and Skipton, with connections to the Yorkshire Dales and the broader Brontë Country.

Built around picturesque train routes and leisurely travel, the four-day programme offers a convenient entry point for devotees eager to discover the moors and locations associated with Wuthering Heights. Prices begin at £468 per person for an unforgettable four-day adventure.

TODAY is the day that Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi’s Wuthering Heights is out in cinemas.

The adaptation of Emily Brontë‘s novel is set to wow movie fans – and viewers will be stunned by the beautiful backdrop which was filmed across the sprawling Yorkshire Dales.

It was reported that the two Hollywood stars were filming in the Yorkshire Dales National Park early in 2025.

Cast and crew took over spots across the moors like Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.

Both valleys are known for their wild moorland scenery.

For those visiting, Swaledale is a great spot for hiking the Pennine Way, or take a drive to explore the Buttertubs Pass.

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It’s essentially a mountain road with steep climbs that crosses the moorland between Wensleydale and Swaledale.

It’s popular with cyclists and motorcyclists, one visitor called it “one of the best driving routes in the whole country.”

The village of Low Row in Swaledale which has traditional stone cottages also featured in the film.

Anybody wanting to stay nearby can pop into The Punch Bowl Inn.

They serve up ‘Yorkshire food with a modern twist’ – in the evenings you can munch on the likes of fish and chips, burgers and Cajun salmon salad.

Rooms are available there too with a one night stay priced at £160.

Arkengarthdale is quiet hiking spot and is known for being home to the highest pub in the country called the Tan Hill Inn.

The historic pub is 1,732 feet above sea level, and it dates back to the 17th century it has exposed beams, stone-flagged floor, and a cosy fire.

Dig into some hearty Yorkshire meals, or book a room from £119 per night.

Another backdrop from the film is Surrender Bridge – it’s a Grade II listed, 19th-century stone bridge just outside of Swaledale.

It first became famous for appearing in the opening scenes of the 1980s All Creatures Great and Small TV series.

Another spot that wasn’t actually used for filming, but could see more visitors, is Haworth.

It’s heavily tied with the Brontës, sisters Emily, Charlotte and Anne – as their family lived there.

The village is still described by visitors as like ‘stepping back in time’ thanks to its cobbled streets and old English pubs.

It pays tribute to the sisters with its Brontë Parsonage Museum.

These spots are set to see a boom of tourists this year – along with a hotel that housed the actors whilst on their shoot.

Jake Dinsdale, from Simonstone Hall Hotel, near Hawes, told the BBC that the “set-jetting” concept is a reality.

He added: “We are getting visitors coming in from Canada, Germany and the States.”

The Simonstone Hall Hotel is in heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park – rooms have boasting four-poster beds, soaking tubs and stunning views.

Room rates start from £118 per night.

For more on Yorkshire, this town has been dubbed the ‘Italy of England’ with historic viaduct and river boats.

Plus, one Sun Writer reveals the prettiest town in Yorkshire – it’s a real northern gem but most southerners have never heard of it.

Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” could only have been created by a true fan. The British filmmaker wanted to evoke her youthful experience reading Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel when she was 14, which she describes as “the most physical emotional connection I’ve ever had to anything.” Her bodice-ripping, visually sumptuous version, in theaters Friday, incorporates some essential literary elements, but also imagines what’s in between the lines of Brontë’s writing, including sultry moments between the protagonists.

“I’m fanatical about the book,” Fennell says. She’s speaking over Zoom alongside Margot Robbie, who stars as Catherine Earnshaw (and who also produced the film), and Jacob Elordi, who plays Heathcliff. “I’m as obsessive about Emily Brontë as everyone else. She gets inside you.”

The director, 40, recalls going to the Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing in West Yorkshire, England, in 2025 and feeling completely at home. “I was like, ‘These are my chicks,’” Fennell says. “We all want to sleep in a coffin.” Robbie laughs, despite likely having heard the story before.

“We are, all of us, breathless, up against a rock,” Fennell continues, referencing a particularly evocative scene she imagined for her film. “I care so deeply about this that I couldn’t hope to ever make a perfect adaptation because I know my own limits.”

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in the movie “Wuthering Heights.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

What she could do is make a film that recalled the visceral feeling of reading the novel as a teen. “That would mean it had a certain amount of wish fulfillment,” she admits. The novel is famously austere, with mere glimmers of physical intimacy. “The Gothic, to me, is emotional and it’s about the world reflecting everyone’s interior landscape. This is my personal fan tribute to this work.”

“Wuthering Heights” marks the third collaboration between Robbie’s production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, and Fennell. Robbie, 35, produced Fennell’s 2020 feature debut “Promising Young Woman,” which earned Fennell the Oscar for original screenplay, and 2023’s class-envy thriller “Saltburn.” Her style is confrontational and seemingly fearless, often provoking hugely divergent reactions from critics and fans. She’s a filmmaker who goes full-on.

Despite their history, however, Robbie had never acted in one of Fennell’s films.

“When I read this script, I did find I was putting myself in Cathy’s shoes and reading the lines and thinking, ‘How would I play it?’” Robbie says. “I do that often when reading scripts, but my heart sank when thinking about the casting. So I threw my hat in the ring.”

Margot Robbie in the movie “Wuthering Heights.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

“It’s a bit like asking your friend to date you,” Fennell chimes in. “It’s taking something a step in a different direction. You don’t want to be the person who blows up the thing that you have that works so well. But I was desperate for Margot to play Cathy. I was so relieved that it was her who made the first move.”

Fennell did make the first move with Elordi, 28, recently Oscar-nominated for his monster in Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein.”

“Emerald texted me and said, ‘Do you want to be Heathcliff?’” Elordi recalls. “That was it. I said, ‘Yeah.’ And then when she gave the screenplay, I read it and wept. That’s how you dream of making movies.”

Not only did Elordi look like the version of Heathcliff on the cover of Fennell’s edition of the novel, but she had witnessed his potential for the role while making “Saltburn.”

Jacob Elordi in the movie “Wuthering Heights.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Felix is a character who does something awful in every scene,” Fennell explains of Elordi’s charismatic rich boy in “Saltburn.” “But it needed somebody who could make everyone in the audience forget that. And Jacob was the only person who came in and did that. Heathcliff is an extreme antihero. He’s cruel and he’s violent and he’s relentless and he’s vengeful and he’s spiteful. Jacob has a sensitivity and tenderness and groundedness that makes us forgive all that.”

Fennell knew the film hinged on the casting of Cathy and Heathcliff, two iconic literary characters who have been portrayed by a multitude of actors over the years, including Laurence Olivier, Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes. It’s been broadly debated whether the novel actually is a love story between the snobbish Cathy and the glowering Heathcliff. For some, it’s a tale of toxic fixation, for others a revenge plot or a tragedy. But Fennell’s version is undeniably a big-screen romance.

“We were looking for outsized charisma and outsized talent, people like Burton and Taylor,” director Emerald Fennell says. “A combination of actors who are explosively brilliant. And it’s these two.”

(Shayan Asgharnia / For The Times)

“We were looking for outsized charisma and outsized talent, people like Burton and Taylor,” Fennell says of the classic onscreen pairing of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, famously tumultuous. “A combination of actors who are explosively brilliant. And it’s these two.”

“That’s the coolest thing to say,” Elordi says, covering his face with his hands. “This after years of hearing nothing,” he quips. (Fennell says she is sparing with praise.)

“Wuthering Heights” reunites several of Fennell’s repeat collaborators. Actor Alison Oliver, who appeared in “Saltburn,” plays Isabella Linton, Edgar’s ward who becomes a problematic fixation for Heathcliff, and the filmmaker reteamed with cinematographer Linus Sandgren, production designer Suzie Davies and editor Victoria Boydell. Fennell also brought in new faces, including Hong Chau as Nelly Dean, Cathy’s companion, and Shazad Latif as wealthy businessman Edgar Linton. She and Robbie aimed to create a creatively safe set.

“It’s very exposing, especially for the actors,” Fennell says of making an audacious film like this. “You need to be able to forget that and feel that you have the ability to make mistakes and try something different.”

Fennell’s direction was often unexpected.

“I remember she prepped us for the long table scene and said, ‘It needs to come to life,’” Elordi says. “Heathcliff was brooding but she said, ‘What if he wasn’t brooding?’ All of a sudden there was this electricity at the table. As an actor, that pushes me out of my comfort zone. And every time it works.”

“What I like about working with Emerald is: I like going too far,” Robbie agrees. “My instinct is to go really hard and then have someone tell me to pull it back. She rarely tells me to pull it back. She wants the maximalist version and I relish that. She would say, ‘Now you’re in a sensible period film.’ And then she’d say ‘Now do it like you’re Ursula the sea witch.’”

That was the take that made the final cut. “Part of it is there,” Fennell confirms. “Usually I use only a little moment of something but that’s the crucial one. Because we’re all so crazy in life, aren’t we?”

“And Cathy so is Ursula the sea witch,” Robbie says.

“She’s such a little sea witch,” Fennell agrees.

Fennell’s reimagining of “Wuthering Heights” amps up the existing emotions in the novel. She abridges its plot, removing the second-generation narrative that bookends Brontë’s writing. The torment of Cathy’s abusive brother shifts to the hands of her father, played by Martin Clunes.

Meanwhile, the longing between Cathy and Heathcliff, who can’t be together due to his lowly station and her spiteful decision to marry the wealthy Linton, accelerates dramatically into fervid sex scenes. The doomed couple erotically embrace on the Yorkshire Moors, in the back of a carriage and even inside her bedroom at Thrushcross Grange — all moments that are not part of the book.

Margot Robbie in the movie “Wuthering Heights.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

“They’re part of the book of my head,” Fennell says, adamantly. “I think they’re part of the book of all of our heads. With all the love and respect and adoration I have for the book, I also wanted to make my own version that I needed to see.”

“It is totally that wish fulfillment,” Robbie says. “And if you can’t have the wish fulfillment in movies, where are you going to get it?”

Fennell imbued the film with tactile visuals that evoke the sexual tension between Cathy and Heathcliff. There are close-ups of hands kneading dough, a snail sliming its way up a window and Cathy prodding a jellied fish with her finger. The director tested numerous fish before selecting the one that is seen onscreen.

“Why I love working with these guys so much is we’re all detail perverts,” Fennell says. “I am obsessed with every single thing. That fish that Margot fingered — I fingered about 50 different fish before then. Tiny fish, big fish, fake fish, jelly that was wet, jelly that was soft, jelly that was firm.”

“You think she’s joking but she’s not,” Robbie says.

“My finger smelled so bad the whole time that we were making this movie,” Fennell adds.

Ultimately, though, it was the best possible fish. “We did the takes with a couple of fish, but we all knew the right one when it happened,” Robbie says of the scene, which mirrors the sexual disappointment in Cathy’s marriage. “We all felt it in the same moment. Everyone went, ‘That’s it.’”

Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in the movie “Wuthering Heights.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

The film’s aesthetic is bold and brash, featuring brilliantly hued red floors and walls designed to look like Cathy’s freckled skin. It lands somewhere between Disney fairy tale, ’80s romance paperback art and old Hollywood glamour. Atmospheric mist pours across every scene. The estate of Wuthering Heights is foreboding and dark, with rocks splintering through the walls, while Linton’s Thrushcross Grange bears a Victorian aesthetic, containing the outside world. “It’s nature coming in and nature being kept out,” Fennell says. “And it’s about what that means emotionally and metaphorically for the story and for these characters.”

There is purposefully no adherence to historical accuracy, particularly in the costumes. Designed by Jacqueline Durran, the wardrobe was elaborately wild to underscore emotional truths rather than period relevancy.

“You couldn’t not scream,” Robbie says about trying on each piece. “And then Emerald would come up with a platter of jewels and start decorating me like a Christmas tree.”

“There was so much screaming every day,” Fennell says. “I always want people to have permission to go too far, to do something that’s in bad taste, that’s not subtle. I’m really interested in pushing until that squeaking point where you’re like, ‘OK, that’s too far.’ It takes a lot of bravery to do that.”

Even Elordi joined in the excitement. “I was screaming at all the dresses,” he says. “Margot and Alison’s dressing rooms flanked me so I’d often get caught in the hallway.”

Although the world of the movie is heightened and beautifully garish, the romance is more grounded. You can feel how desperate Cathy and Heathcliff are for each other in their own twisted way, and despite their horrible machinations you want them to be together. The film ends differently from the novel, but it shares with it a sad inevitability.

Fennell inherently understood what makes these characters so desirable.

“I was led by my own feelings,” she says. “On set, we were all trying to find that thing that made us get goosebumps. One of the earliest scenes we shot was where Heathcliff breaks the chair to build Cathy a fire.”

To help a shivering Cathy, Heathcliff rises from his wooden seat, smashes it on the floor and tosses the pieces into the fireplace. It’s a moment of devotion from Heathcliff, but triggers a lustful response in Cathy.

“I looked around and all of these professionals, women and men, were agape. Everyone felt the same way as Cathy. That’s what I was looking for every day.”

“He actually broke the chair,” Robbie says. “Cathy’s reaction is my genuine reaction.”

Elordi understood the challenge of embodying such an iconic character, who has existed both on the page and on the screen for generations. He also didn’t want to let Fennell down.

“I knew how personal the story was to Emerald and I knew the screenplay that she had written was extremely good, but I was like ‘What makes you think I can do this?’” Elordi remembers. “I had a lot of nerves but I jumped into it. This is a director you’re really able to give everything to. The images that come from her head are so unique and singular. The first time I watched ‘Saltburn’ with her, I sat back and I realized I was in the presence of something truly great and original. To be able to investigate with her two times is a gift.”

Says Robbie, “My hope is always: There’s got to be one person that watches this movie and thinks ‘That’s my favorite of all time.’ I want to make a movie that is someone’s favorite movie of all time and I’ll know how much that means to them. That it might save them in whatever ways movies can save you.”

Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” shudders with feeling. And however audiences perceive it, its maker has done exactly what she intended.

SHE is no stranger to steamy scenes, but Margot Robbie says new movie Wuthering Heights beats her previous films when it comes to passion on screen.

Out in time for Valentine’s Day, the adaptation of Emily Bronte’s classic novel sees Margot as Cathy alongside Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff.

And the 35-year-old star says it is much raunchier than the book’s romantic scenes, set on the sweeping Yorkshire moors.

She added: “They never really kissed in the book, but we kiss a lot. We kiss everywhere.

“And there’s so many times where he just picks me up and puts me in a tree, or picks me up with one hand.

“And I have to say, it is really nice, it makes you feel, ‘Oh I’m light as a feather, I’m a tiny little thing’.”

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I think a lot of men are going to turn to their partners and be like, ‘Am I Heathcliff to you or am I Edgar?’. And I don’t know if they want to hear the answer

Margot

Before landing the role, Margot had not read the novel but has now gone through it a “bunch of times” and thinks it’s “phenomenal”.

Film critics say the movie is a winner, too.

Directed by Emerald Fennell, it hits cinemas on Friday. February 13 has become known as Galentine’s Day and celebrates female friendships.

‘Start fights’

Margot said: “It’s a great Galentine’s movie. Going with a group of girlfriends and having a couple of drinks is going to be a fun night out, and then you could go with your partner.”

Bronte’s novel follows a love triangle between Cathy, wild Heathcliff and gentleman Edgar.

And Margot said with a laugh: “I did wonder if this film will start fights, because I do think a lot of men are going to turn to their partners afterwards and be like, ‘Am I Heathcliff to you or am I Edgar?’. And I don’t know if they want to hear the answer.”

Margot rose to fame on Neighbours in 2008, aged 17, as fiery teenager Donna Freedman.

Her Hollywood breakthrough came five years later opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf Of Wall Street.

Since then, she has starred in blockbuster films including as Harley Quinn in 2021’s The Suicide Squad and in the 2023 global smash Barbie.

Last month, polling company Ranker named the three-time Oscar nominee as the most beautiful woman in the world, but Margot says she remains insecure about her looks.

She told Wonderland magazine: “When I was playing Naomi in The Wolf Of Wall Street it was so high-tempo sexy. I was acutely aware that the line in the screenplay was ‘the hottest blonde ever’.

I lied for a long time about the nudity [in Wolf of Wall Street]. First, I said there was no nudity. Then I said there was nudity but it was a body
double

Margot

“I’m clearly not the hottest blonde ever. I was just terrified that people would see the movie and think, ‘Eugh! She’s not that great’.”

Margot also gets worried about her family seeing some of her more risque roles. When she had to strip for The Wolf Of Wall Street, she banned some of them from watching.

She said: “I lied for a long time about the nudity. First, I said there was no nudity. Then I said there was nudity, but it wasn’t me, that it was a body double with my head CGI’d on. Then I had to admit it was me.

“The grandparents flat out can’t see it. The rest of the family can watch at their own risk, but if we can’t have a relationship after that, it’s not my fault.”

Margot’s parents split up when she was five and she was raised on Australia’s Gold Coast with her physiotherapist mum Sarie. She has limited contact with her father Doug, a retired farmer and sugar cane tycoon.

The star says that acting seemed like an impossible dream and told Vogue Australia: “I got on Neighbours and I thought that was the biggest thing that was ever going to happen to me.

“Before that, the idea of being in Hollywood, I did think you had to be born into it or had to know someone in the industry.”

Now she speaks out to let young girls know that if you work hard anything is possible.

Margot said: “I just want to say to young people that success is not as far away as it seems. I didn’t know anyone in the industry; it can totally happen.

“You do have to work really hard, you have to work really, really, really hard, but if you want it badly enough, you can totally make it happen.”

Today, Margot lives in Los Angeles with her husband, English film ­producer Tom Ackerley, and their 16-month old son — who has not been named publicly.

Alongside Tom, Margot runs production company LuckyChap, the powerhouse firm behind Barbie, Saltburn and now Wuthering Heights.

And she says life at the top is a constant balancing act.

‘Rarely go on holidays’

Margot explained: “Having a business is stressful and time-consuming, but it’s incredibly rewarding. There are obviously a lot of times where I’ll have a meltdown and go, ‘I can’t do it any more’.

“You miss out on a lot of things, like you rarely go on holidays, you miss everyone’s weddings, everyone’s birthdays. I haven’t seen my best friends, my nephew.

“So there’s that side to it where it kind of hurts to sacrifice those things, but it’s also enormously satisfying to build something and be part of something.

“The biggest misconception about me is that people think I spend all my time sitting on a yacht or swanning around at fancy parties.”

Margot added to Elle Australia: “I still feel very Australian, so I don’t really feel like I’m in Hollywood at all.

“You only get a taste of Hollywood twice a year when you go to the Oscars or you go to do a press junket or a premiere or something.”

And of her happy place, she told Vogue: “Being on a film set is my favourite place, there’s nothing better.

“And I don’t care if I’ve got three lines in the film or if I’ve got one of the lead roles.

“I hope I look back and feel like I spent my time well.

“I don’t mind if the movies that I make aren’t massive successes, as long as I know I put in everything I could and I loved the people I was working with.

“I want to look back and know I had a lot of adventures, a lot of fun with good people.”

The four-mile trail from the village of Haworth to Top Withens in West Yorkshire is well trodden; numerous footprints squelched into the boggy ground by those seeking the view said to have inspired the setting for Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. The landscape rolls in desolate waves of brown bracken. A lone tree punctuates the scene. It’s bleakly, hauntingly beautiful.

With the release of Emerald Fennell’s new film of the Gothic masterpiece starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi next week, Haworth and many of the filming locations in the Yorkshire Dales national park, where the book is set, are braced for a slew of visitors.

The local residents, though, seem distinctly unfazed by the attention.

“We’re used to crowds,” shrugs Craig Verity, the landlord at the Kings Arms, a pub at the top of Haworth’s steep cobbled Main Street, just steps from the parsonage where the Brontës were raised.

Brontë country has been milking the connection for decades. On a wall in the Kings Arms, a board promotes a selection of Bridgehouse cask ales named Charlotte, Anne, Emily and Branwell, the latter being the lesser-known Brontë brother.

In the surrounding streets, there’s the Brontë Hotel and the Brontë Bar and Restaurant, as well as – somewhat tenuously – Brontë Balti.

The Brontë Parsonage, where the sisters lived, wrote and – in Emily and Charlotte’s case – died, is now a museum housing artefacts, personal items and manuscripts, as well as hosting events such as workshops, talks and screenings of adaptations of the books. It draws around 75,000 visitors annually, a number almost sure to rise this year; a screening of 1992’s Wuthering Heights planned for 12 February has already sold out.

Scenes from this version, starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliet Binoche, were filmed at East Riddlesden Hall, about five miles from Haworth. The exterior of the 17th-century National Trust property also featured in the 2009 mini-series as Wuthering Heights itself, as well as in the now-lost 1920 silent version.

The 1939 Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon film was shot in California and on set in Hollywood.

“We only know about the use of the property because of a January 1921 article in the Shipley Times and Express,” said Sophie Fawcett, a senior marketing and communications officer with the National Trust.

Coinciding with the release of Fennell’s new adaptation, East Riddlesden Hall will be holding a Lights, Camera, Brontë exhibition, which will showcase, for instance, the “vast oak dresser” thought to have inspired the one described in the opening pages of the book. It came originally from Ponden Hall – about an hour’s walk from Haworth and now a bed and breakfast – to which the sisters were frequent visitors.

One room here features a box bed and window, likely to have inspired the scene in which the ghost of Cathy appears to a terrified Lockwood.

For this new film, the cast stayed at Simonstone Hall, a sumptuous country house hotel in Yorkshire Dales. It’s a 20-minute drive from here to Swaledale, where many of the scenes were shot.

“They were lovely people, and brilliantly undemanding,” said the owner, Jake Dinsdale, noting that Robbie had since been back for a stay with her husband. “Although they’d booked out all 20 rooms, our restaurant was still open to the public, and the cast enjoyed being around the firepit to toast s’mores, or sitting down to a roast dinner or afternoon tea.”

His own attitude is equally relaxed. “I don’t know what the film will do,” he said. “It could all be a flash in the pan, and that’s fine. If it sticks, that’s also great. What I do know is that I won’t be renaming any rooms as ‘The Jacob Elordi Room’ or ‘The Heathcliff Room’.

“Commercial naffness isn’t for us – I’ll just be happy if guests understand why so many people love the Yorkshire Dales.”

In the meantime, Simonstone Hall is offering a Wuthering Heights Romantic Getaway package until 13 March: two nights for £738 per couple, including champagne on arrival, candlelit dinners, bedtime brandy and truffles, leisurely breakfasts and late checkout. Copies of the novel are also available in the gift shop.

Tony Watson, head of economy and tourism for North Yorkshire council, said: “The area has featured in so many films and series; we’re experienced in managing that. Post-Covid, we were already seeing more younger people getting outdoors and exploring the county, and this demographic will doubtless grow as the film showcases the area’s beauty and authenticity.

“We’ll have to wait until the release to see whether there’s some iconic shot that people want to replicate. If there is, hopefully it will be somewhere like Aysgarth Falls, which has all of the necessary infrastructure in place – otherwise, we’ll need to suggest alternatives that don’t make mountain rescue unhappy.”

Back at The Kings Arms, Jack Greatrex, who lives in the area, is sanguine. “The Brontë sisters shaped this village for future generations, and for lovers of landscape and literature,” he said. “This film could mean that they continue to do so.”

Whatever effect the new film has, said Watson, they’re ready for it. “I’m the luckiest head of tourism imaginable – the film is going to do my job for me.”

ACTRESS Margot Robbie hits the Wuthering Heights of style — in a leather mini dress.

The Australian star was promoting her new movie, an adaptation of Emily Bronte’s classic love story, with a Q and A at Claridge’s in central London.

Last night, the 35-year-old appeared with co-star Jacob Elordi, 28, on The Graham Norton Show.

Jacob, who plays Heathcliff alongside Margot’s Catherine, said the couple’s obvious chemistry in the film was down to “mutual obsession”.

He said: “If you have the opportunity to share a film set with Margot Robbie, you’re going to make sure you’re within five to ten metres at all times.”

Margot and Jacob play Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, respectively, and are joined in the film by Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes and Ewan Mitchell in supporting roles.

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Margot wore a see-through corset dress at the Wuthering Heights premiere in London

She dazzled in a see-through nude mesh gown with gold detailing and a white corset underneath, which showed off her incredible figure.

The Barbie actress was recently named the world’s most beautiful woman in a poll.

We revealed in October how Margot is being lined up to take on the leading role in a big budget remake of cult horror film American Psycho.

MARGOT ROBBIE looked stunning in a see-through corset dress as she lead the stars at the Wuthering Heights premiere in London.

The Barbie actress, 35, made sure all eyes were on her as she stepped onto the red carpet in Leicester Square in an eye-catching ensemble.

She dazzled in a see-through nude mesh gown with gold detailing and a white corset underneath, which showed off her incredible figure.

The top of the dress was connected with rope straps which held onto a frilly choker around her neck.

She brought her look to life with a pair of strappy gold heels and had her dark locks pulled back into a chic bun.

Margot went for a cool make-up look complete with pink eyeshadow, a nude lip and some blush.

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She was joined on the red carpet with her co-star Jacob Elordi, who looked dapper in an all-grey suit.

He towered over her in in a grey shirt, trousers, tie a long flowing blazer jacket which he paired with smart black shoes.

The Hollywood actors were all smiles as they posed up a storm together, with Jacob pulling in Margot with his hand around her waist.

The leading pair were joined by a whole host of stars from the worlds of television and film.

The iconic Helen Mirren graced the carpet in a navy suit jacket and trousers, along with a white shirt and a gold and silver necklace.

She wore a pair of funky matching navy heels and beamed from ear to ear for pictures.

Meanwhile, Charli XCX, who composed a full concept album and soundtrack for the film, looked sensational in a pink strapless gown with a veil draping her entire body.

The singer looked ethereal as her dark heavy make-up could be seen underneath her veil.

A whole host of Love Island stars descended upon Leicester Square to rub shoulders with Hollywood’s finest.

Harry Cooksley and Shakira Khan were giving power couple energy as she looked sultry in a short black dress with straps and a thigh-high cut out.

She paired her outfit with fishnet tights and layers of metal chains around her neck.

While Harry looked smart in a matching black suit, with a white shirt and a gold brooch.

Conor Phillips and Megan Forte Clarke also opted for matching ensembles, in a black frilly gown and a jacket and trouser combo.

Newly-married series 9 winners, Kai Fagan and Sanam Harrinanan looked happier than ever as they smiled for the photographers, despite it raining in the capital.

Strictly Come Dancing star Tasha Ghouri wowed in a red wine corset with a frilly skirt and Liberty Poole looked amazing in a figure-hugging black mesh gown with a red mermaid tail and black gloves.

Wuthering Heights has been written and directed by Emerald Fennell and is loosely inspired by Emily Bronte’s classic 1847 novel of the same name.

Margot and Jacob play Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, respectively, and are joined in the film by Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes and Ewan Mitchell in supporting roles.

Fans have watched the thriller 10 times since its premiere

Film fans waiting for the release of Wuthering Heights can now stream the director’s captivating 2023 thriller for free.

Writer-director Emerald Fennell made a splash just three years ago with the release of Saltburn, which stars Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi.

Now, the Oscar winner is set to return to screens with Wuthering Heights, once again starring Elordi as her leading man, Heathcliff. Adapted from the Emily Brontë classic, the tragic romance drama is set to release on February 13.

Those who are keen to dive into Fennell or Elordi’s filmographies can now head to BBC iPlayer, where Saltburn is streaming for free.

Set at the University of Oxford, the film centres on scholarship student Oliver (Barry Keoghan), who is struggling to fit in with his classmates.

He soon becomes infatuated with aristocratic student Felix (Elordi), who later invites him to spend the summer at his family’s huge country estate, Saltburn.

The summer takes a dark turn as a series of tragedies strike the family. The mystery thriller goes on to explore various important themes such as social class.

It impressively bagged five BAFTA Film Award nominations, including a nod for supporting actress Rosamund Pike and leading man Keoghan.

Elordi was also acknowledged in the Supporting Actor category, while Fennell was named in the Outstanding British Film of the Year list.

Despite its stellar cast, though, Saltburn received mixed reviews. Some viewers complained that its social commentary was too shallow, while others were completely won over.

On Rotten Tomatoes viewer shared: “The more I think about this film – the more it grows on me.

“Saltburn is as captivating as it is stunning with stand out performances by both Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike. The direction is beautifully done, with a twist ending oh so well earned.”

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Another reviewer gushed: “Omg!!! I love this film watched it ten times I think it’s brilliant all the cast do an amazing job it’s cringe in places but it’s a brilliant sick thriller”

But a third dissapointed viewer slammed: “This movie is all art and no heart…and very vapid pseudo deep art at that…”

While a fourth defended: “I’ve seen this so many times now. I don’t care what anyone has to say, I love it.”

Saltburn is streaming now on BBC iPlayer

MARGOT Robbie sparkles again at a Wuthering Heights premiere — with a diamond necklace and matching ring.

She wore a red Chanel velvet ballgown in Paris, then changed into a black corset dress for the after-party.

Last week Margot, 35, wore a £6million necklace for the Hollywood launch.

Tomorrow she and co-star Jacob Elordi, 28, attend the UK premiere in London’s Leicester Square.

Margot last week made her Wuthering Heights co-star Jacob weak at the knees in a “breathtaking” black corset.

Leading man Jacob said the ­uplifting black number was “an absolute banger” and described it as “devastating”.

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The 28-year-old Australian plays Heathcliff opposite Margot’s Cathy in the upcoming film adaptation of Emily Bronte’s 1847 novel.

He even filled his married co-star’s dressing room with roses for Valentine’s Day while shooting the tragic love story.

His fellow Aussie Margot, who posed in a minidress for the ­latest cover of Vogue Australia, said she was bowled over by the romantic gesture — despite having only had her first son with husband Tom Ackerley, 35, four months earlier.

Interviewing each other for the magazine, Margot said: “You made my day and, as Heathcliff, filled my room with roses. It was so cute.

“I remember thinking on Valentine’s Day, ‘Oh he’s probably a very good boyfriend, ’cause there’s a lot of thoughtfulness in this’.

“You did a lot of very thoughtful things — it wasn’t just the gesture of the roses.”