Jacob Elordi Admits Doubts Over Wuthering Heights Role

Jacob Elordi has admitted that even he had doubts when he first landed the role of Heathcliff in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

The Oscar nominee is about to take on the classic literary character in Emerald Fennell’s new version of Wuthering Heights, opposite Margot Robbie as Kathy.

Speaking to his co-star in a new interview for Vogue Australia, Jacob revealed that the offer to play Heathcliff marked “the first time I’d been like, ‘I don’t know if I’m good enough’”.

Before Wuthering Heights, Jacob had already collaborated with British filmmaker Emerald on her last movie Saltburn, but this period piece presented challenges that the Euphoria was unsure he could rise to.

“I really didn’t want to let her down,” he said of Wuthering Heights’ director. “So, the first three weeks, I would go home and I had the greatest amount of doubt I’ve probably ever had.

“Then, when that went away, it started to feel like Saltburn again, when I let go and relinquished a little bit, because I was holding it so tightly. Like, it’s Heathcliff. It has to be Heathcliff. And then I started to understand the movie more.”

Insisting that making Wuthering Heights was “not a bad experience”, he added: “I just remember [making Saltburn as] a summer of love. I didn’t know what the movie would be, but I knew it was a special movie to be making.

“But the size of Wuthering Heights. Bigger movie. Bigger crew. Everyone’s come back to double up on this thing. Saltburn grew into this thing I didn’t really plan for. There is this feeling of having to swing for the fences again. There is a trepidation until [you realise], ‘oh, OK, it’s all the same’.”

When Jacob was first cast in the role, people had plenty of opinions, including some who accused the film of “whitewashing” a character who is implied in the original novel to be a person of colour subjected to racism by his adopted family.

Responding to this criticism during a British Vogue interview last year, Margot said: “I’d say, just wait. Trust me, you’ll be happy.

“[Heathcliff is] a character that has this lineage of other great actors who’ve played him, from Laurence Olivier to Richard Burton and Ralph Fiennes to Tom Hardy. To be a part of that is special.

“He’s incredible and I believe in him so much. I honestly think he’s our generation’s Daniel Day-Lewis.”

Emerald also previously defended casting Jacob in the role, and explained her reason for the decision during an interview with the BBC.

Read Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie’s joint interview in Vogue Australia.