Margot Robbie says lower the temperature on your expectations for the new Wuthering Heights film.
After director Emerald Fennell’s last movie, Saltburn, which famously included an infamous highly sexual bathtub and a grave scene, everyone just assumed her take on the Brontë classic would be a non-stop, windswept steam fest on the moors.
But in a new interview with British Vogue, Robbie sets the record straight: "Everyone's expecting this to be very, very raunchy. I think people will be surprised." Instead, she describes it as a big, epic romance, filling a void left by films like The Notebook.
'Not to say there aren't sexual elements and that it's not provocative – it definitely is provocative – but it's more romantic than provocative. This is a big epic romance.
'It's just been so long since we've had one – maybe The Notebook, also The English Patient. You have to go back decades.
'It's that feeling when your chest swells or it's like someone's punched you in the guts and the air leaves your body. That's a signature of Emerald's. Whether it's titillating or repulsion, her superpower is eliciting a physical response.'
So, what does make a modern Cathy weak in the knees? Apparently, it's Jacob Elordi's Heathcliff performing specific, heroic feats.
Robbie cites a moment where he picks her up "with only one arm!" and another where he shields her face from the rain. "It almost made me weak at the knees," she confessed.
So Bronte fans, consider this your official warning: the most provocative thing in this adaptation might be Elordi's functional upper-body strength.
Adding another layer to the story, the actress began filming this intense romantic epic just three months after having her baby. She admitted to feeling anxious and unprepared, but said Fennell relieved her anxiety by telling her, "I don't want you to prepare. I just need you to be in the moment."
Of course, the casting itself has already generated is own drama. Many fans and critics have taken issue with the actress, 34, playing a teenage Cathy, and with Elordi not matching the "dark-skinned" description of Heathcliff from the novel.
The film's casting director recently responded to the backlash by remarking, "You really don't need to be accurate. It's just a book," a statement that lit a predictable fire under literary purists online.
And while it may be "more romantic than provocative," early test screenings suggest Fennell hasn't gone totally soft. Reports mention "purposefully discomforting" scenes and lingering, suggestive shots of things like egg yolks and dough. Because nothing says tortured love like aggressive baking imagery.
The film is set for a Valentine's Day release. So if your ideal romance involves single-arm lifts, protective rain shields, and a relaxed attitude toward 19th-century novel lore, this might just be for you.
