It was probably inevitable, but the phrase “Emerald Fennell is doing Wuthering Heights” still sends a real chill down the spine. Unfortunately for anyone who cares about classic literature, basic story structure, or avoiding watching Oscar-nominated actors slurp up bathtub cum on screen, the director of the divisive Saltburn has indeed set her sights on the Emily Brontë classic. Fennell teased the news on social media today, along with a graphic quoting one of the novel’s most famous lines: “Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad!”
The fact that Fennell would want to take on Brontë’s 1847 tale of a love that vacillates between obsession and madness is a little too on the nose. In fact, Wuthering Heights was such a big reference point for Saltburn, it seems the director figured she might as well go straight to the source. “There’s a scene in Wuthering Heights after Cathy dies when Heathcliff digs down to her coffin and tries to get to her. It’s very clear what he’s intending to do, which is to, at the very least touch her, kiss her. So it’s part of the Gothic tradition that sex and death are kind of intertwined,” Fennell told Time Magazine of finding inspiration for the scene where Barry Keoghan’s character strips naked and, er, humps Jacob Elordi’s grave in the last film.
It’s unclear how Wuthering Heights will differ from Saltburn, especially considering the fact that she’s already used up her (hopefully) one chance to put a grave fucking scene on camera. We also don’t know whether she intends to do a stylized but period-appropriate adaptation à la 2020's Emma, or go full Baz Luhrmann Romeo + Juliet. Either way, we’re putting our money on one thing now: the Kate Bush song is going to be in there somewhere. It doesn’t matter if the film is set in 1847, 1978, 2028. This is Emerald Fennell we’re talking about—historical accuracy probably isn’t at the top of her priority list.