Emerald Fennell said adapting Wuthering Heights was an impossible task as she explained why she changed the title of her movie. 

The upcoming adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi is named "Wuthering Heights", with the quotation marks. 

Now Emerald has admitted why she chose to include the quotation marks in the title.

She said you simply can't adapt a book as 'dense, complicated and difficult' as Wuthering Heights, so you create a version of it rather than a replica.  

Emerald said she consulted the Brontë Parsonage Museum and others who love the book as much as she does before deciding on the title, adding: 'It is Wuthering Heights and it isn't.'

Speaking to Fandango on Wednesday, Emerald said: 'I think it's a lot of things but I think primarily it's because the book means so much to me and it means so so much to so many people, and I've been doing a lot of talking to the Brontë Parsonage Museum and to other people who love this book too because it means a lot to me. 

'It's every important that everyone who loves it as much as I do feels almost a part of it, I guess.'

She continued: 'But the thing for me is 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. 

'What I can say is I'm making a version of it. There's a version I remembered reading, which isn't quite real. And there's a version that I wanted to stuff to happen that never happened. 

'And so it is Wuthering Heights and it isn't. But really I'd say any adaptation of a novel, and especially a novel like this, should have, you know, quotation marks around it.'

It comes after the film's costume designer Jacqueline Durran has hit back at fans who criticised Margot Robbie's 'hideous' outfits in the upcoming film. (Hannah McDonald)

Madekwe, who received the nomination alongside Robert Aramayo (I Swear), Miles Caton (Sinners), Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) and Posy Sterling (Lollipop), also shared that he hadn’t seen Fennell’s hotly anticipated next film, Wuthering Heights.

‘But me and Emerald texted about it yesterday. I’m gonna see it very soon!’

Commenting on the furore its casting and sexy, period-inaccurate trailer has whipped up, Madekwe agreed that fans should expect the unexpected and not jump to conclusions.

‘I think that especially with any kind of literature that feels close to people, they feel very protective, but remember that this is also an artist that is giving you an adaptation through her eyes so just take that in [your] stride and be open – and I’m so excited to see what she did.

‘What a cast, I just cannot wait to see all those people on screen!’ (Tori Brazier)

Bloomingdale’s next partnership will be with Warner Bros. Discovery for the much-anticipated Feb. 13 release of the feature film, “Wuthering Heights.”

Running from Thursday through Feb. 22, Bloomingdale’s x “Wuthering Heights” will be transformed into a Gothic, romantic world inspired by the film. Customers can shop an exclusive Aqua collaboration as well as a multitude of licensed products and specialty items.

Among the items are a sweetheart neck rose-printed gown by Aqua, exclusive lace lingerie by Hanky Panky, Slip silk pillowcases and sleep masks, and candles from Lollia. Additional items include Art of Tea’s floral blends, Maude’s body-oil and massage-candle duo, Tokyomilk’s signature fragrance, Kim Sybert coasters, and Dear Annabelle notecards. (Lisa Lockwood)

   

Emerald Fennell will open her latest feature, Wuthering Heights, in IMAX at the BFI in London alongside an extended programme of films she has curated, featuring titles that inspired her adaptation of the classic Emily Brontë novel. 

Wuthering Heights will screen at BFI Imax from February 13. The film will screen from laser prints. Fennell has curated a list of thirteen films that inspired the film for the BFI. Of the thirteen titles, four will screen at BFI Imax alongside Wuthering Heights. Those titles are David Cronenberg’s Crash, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, the director’s cut of Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, and Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled. 

These films will screen from digital prints every Sunday at BFI Imax throughout February. Fennell’s full list of thirteen titles, which she says complement and give context to her adaptation of Wuthering Heights, is listed below. 

Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, 1942), 

A Matter Of Life And Death (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1946), 

Far From The Madding Crowd (John Schlesinger, 1967), 

Peau d’âne (Jacques Demy, 1970), 

The Night Porter (Liliana Cavani, 1974)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992)

Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)

Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann, 1996)

The End Of The Affair (Neil Jordan, 1999)

Romance (Catherine Breillat, 1999)

Bluebeard (Catherine Breillat, 2009)

The Handmaiden Director’s Cut (Park Chan-wook, 2016) 

The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola, 2017).

“Since its publication 200 years ago, critics have challenged Wuthering Heights’s validity as a love story,” Fennell said, writing for the BFI. 

“It is too shocking, too cruel, too narratively strange to slip neatly into the world of romance, but it is a love story nonetheless. While researching it, I rewatched many of my own favourite ‘love stories,’ ones that challenged, subverted, even obliterated the conventions of the genre. These are stories which put the love story under duress, which stick a needle into the strawberry trifle, which show love in all its freakish, gory detail.”

Fennell will also take part in a conversation session at BFI Southbank on February 4 ahead of the Wuthering Heights release, where she will discuss her experience shooting the project. (Zac Ntim)

   

An adaptation of Jane Eyre opens tomorrow, April 15, in Durham, UK:

Feather Theatre Company presents a Durham Student Production of

Jane Eyre

Adapted by Charles Vance (?)

Thursday 15 January 2026 19:30 

Saturday 17 January 2026 22:00

Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre

40 North BaileyDurham, England, DH1 3ETUnited Kingdom

Directed by Nat Pryke and Nell Hickson

With Estelle Pollard-Cox, Ross Killian, Lauren Williams, Noah Benson, Olivia Maxwell, Ruby Newall and Molly Cowell.

In a dramatic retelling of this great Romantic novel, young and unsuspecting governess Jane Eyre must fight to secure her freedom and identity in a world that condemns her for it. 

Jane Eyre arrives in 1846 to take up the post of governess to Rochester's ward, Adele, at Thornfield Hall. Jane and Rochester fall in love but their happiness is jeopardized by the discovery of the terrible secret from Rochester's past. The action, contained in a single setting with one small inset scene, captures all the tension and drama that fans and newcomers alike could want from this great love story.

   

To celebrate the opening night of their new film, “Wuthering Heights“, Australian stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are coming to Sydney.

The actors will appear at the screening going ahead at Sydney’s State Theatre on Thursday, February 12th – the same day as its national cinema release – which will mark the grand finale of a global tour that also sees them head to LA, Paris and London.

“Sydney, we are so thrilled to bring our upcoming film, “Wuthering Heights”, down under this summer,” Elordi said.

Robbie added: “Come on down with us as we crash onto Australian shores. Wild, unrestrained and impossible to resist.”

Producer and Oscar nominee Josey McNamara is also confirmed to attend. (Neil Griffiths)

A derelict listed building a short distance from where the Brontë sisters grew up could become an escape room venue.

13-15 Main Street in Haworth is the former Penny Lane craft and gift shop, but has been empty for several years.

Now a new application has been submitted to turn the upper floors of the building into an escape room venue with eight separate rooms. [...]

The ground floor will become a cheese shop that also serves ice cream and coffee.

The building is just a short walk from the Brontë Parsonage and is on the iconic Main Street, one of the district’s most popular tourist destinations.

The planning application and a listed building consent application for the works have now been submitted to Bradford Council by Hayley Smith.

As well as the change of use, the development would also include the construction of a three-storey rear extension and single storey glazed orangery to provide seating.

The planning application says: “The property lies within the Haworth Conservation Area (designated 1971), renowned for its strong historic and architectural character, tightly knit townscape, stepped rooflines and predominant use of natural stone, with notable Brontë associations.

“The site occupies a prominent position on Main Street, the historic spine of the conservation area, characterised by independent shops, cafés and cultural attractions.

“The ground-floor unit will remain in Use Class E and will trade as a cheese shop with ancillary on-premises ice-cream and coffee sales and events ancillary to the shop function; its existing entrance will be retained.

“The rear extension at ground floor will accommodate an accessible WC, additional sales area and storage, and the orangery will serve as a customer seating area ancillary to the shop.

“The building is in very poor condition. The roof is severely compromised, particularly to the rear, with rotten joists and partial collapse.

“The central chimney is cracked and unstable, with visible movement. Internally, several chimney breasts are disused and appear to have undergone modern interventions or alterations using unsympathetic materials such as red brick and engineered stone.”

The venue would be used by a maximum of four groups at any one time, with up to five participants per group.

It would open between 10am and 9.30pm. A decision on the application is expected in March. (Chris Young)