BBC presenter Anita Rani has condemned the casting of Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff in the forthcoming Wuthering Heights film, arguing the Australian actor is “too white” for the part.
The Yorkshire-born Celebrity Race Across the World star specifically took aim at director Emerald Fennell’s decision to cast Mr Elordi in her adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 gothic classic, which opens tomorrow alongside co-star Margot Robbie.
Ms Rani maintains that Ms Brontë intended Heathcliff to be a non-white character, though this interpretation is not widely accepted.
Ms Fennell, who won an Academy Award for Promising Young Woman, has described her adaptation as a personal vision of how she imagined the novel during her teenage years.
Jacob Eloridi as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights
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WARNER BROS
In an Instagram video posted on Sunday, Ms Rani noted that Britain was experiencing peak colonial expansion when Ms Brontë wrote her masterpiece.
She stated: “This tiny island was getting very rich from doing some very dark things around the world.
“Meanwhile, in West Yorkshire, Emily and her two sisters were almost certainly not sitting around crocheting and dreaming of handsome princes.”
The presenter argued that the Brontë sisters were politically engaged women who challenged societal norms through their writing.
Anita Rani said Jacob Elordi is too white to play the role
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GETTY
“It’s on the page, and what it does is it changes everything. Think about it,” Ms Rani said.
Fans of the presenter rushed to the comments of her video to share their thoughts.
One fan wrote: “If you have read the book, you know that Heathcliff is not white – it’s explicitly repeated in the book. Emily couldn’t have made it any clearer if she tried.”
Another penned: “SAY IT LOUDER! I won’t be rushing out to watch the film.”
“Completely agree with you @itsanitarani – I’ve read the book a couple of times, discussed this in book reviews and watched a couple of documentaries on it. An important message gets lost in this adaptation, I love both artists,” a third viewer said.
However, many questioned Ms Rani’s take. “But all the older version movies have him white as well. I do not recall an uproar about it before,” contested one viewer.
Another added: “It’s all performative outrage because of social media. No one cared before because there was nothing to gain for virtue signalling.”
A third penned: “Only because now the woke brigade want to see what’s not there! Emily describes him as gypsy like, not black!”
Ms Brontë’s text offers contradictory descriptions of the protagonist’s appearance, fueling ongoing debate about his ethnicity.
The author depicts Heathcliff as “dark-skinned” and “gypsy in aspect” with “black eyes,” yet elsewhere describes his face as “white as the wall behind him.”
The character is often compared to a Lasca, a South Asian sailor, and at other points described as “pale” or potentially “Spanish.”
Scholars note the novel emerged during an era when the term “black” was commonly applied to individuals with dark hair, including those referred to as “black Irish,” complicating straightforward racial interpretations.
Ms Rani shared the video to Instagram on Sunday
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Throughout cinema history, white performers have predominantly portrayed Heathcliff, most notably Laurence Olivier in the celebrated 1939 adaptation.
However, a 2011 film version broke tradition by casting black British actors James Howson and Solomon Glave as the older and younger Heathcliff.
The Brontë Parsonage museum in Haworth, the Yorkshire home of the three literary sisters, has weighed in on the debate.
The Brontë Society, which operates the museum, suggested last year that Heathcliff may have had “black African descent,” pointing to his discovery as an orphan in Liverpool, a major port in the slave trade, with no identified family or owner.
Jacob Elordi has been cast as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights | GETTY
The race debate isn’t the only criticism of the film adaptation so far.
Much of the backlash stems from Ms Robbie, who plays Catherine Earnshaw, being older than the original character and not matching Catherine’s dark-haired description.
Ms Robbie responded to the criticism in an interview, saying: “I get it. There’s nothing else to go off at this point until people see the movie.”
The Los Angeles Times noted that Ms Fennell adds explicit sexual elements not present in the original novel, charting the destructive romance between the two Australian leads.
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights | WARNER BROS
Meanwhile, The Sun described the production as “over-stylised,” arguing that whilst it remained lively and engaging, the emphasis on visual flair came at the expense of meaningful substance.
The Independent delivered the harshest verdict, awarding just one star and characterising the adaptation as “limp.”
Rolling Stone has referred to it as “the horniest literary adaptation ever made.”
However, some critics have rated the film extremely highly. The BBC branded Ms Bronte’s adaptation: “Sexy, dramatic and swoonily romantic.”
Despite mixed reviews, box office predictions expect the film to bring in between $50 million (£36.65 million) and $55 million (£40.3 million) in North America, plus an extra $30 (£21.9 million) to $40 (£29 million) internationally.
