Wuthering Heights has been adapted for the screen many times, not even counting spin-offs like Sparkhouse or parody clips and such. Here is a chronological list according to IMDb:
- Wuthering Heights (1920)
- Wuthering Heights (1939)
- Wuthering Heights (1948)
- Wuthering Heights (1954)
- Wuthering Heights (1962)
- Wuthering Heights (1967)
- Wuthering Heights (1978)
- Wuthering Heights (1970)
- Hurlevent (1985) – French
- Arashi ga oka (1988) – Japanese
- Wuthering Heights (1992)
- Wuthering Heights (1998)
- Wuthering Heights (2003)
- Cime tempestose (2004) – Italian
- Wuthering Heights (2009)
- Wuthering Heights (2011)
The last one says 2011, gasp! So … what do we know about the latest version, number 16?
Well, it’s …
- yet another adaptation, hot on the heels of a TV adaptation so Brontëites will wonder why on earth they had to make another one so soon (I know I do)
- changed cast frequently (last I heard, Gemma Arterton was set to play Cathy – apparently she isn’t)
- directed by Andrea Arnold
- will premiere at the Venice Film Festival
- set to be released 30 September 2011 here in the UK, which is a bit puzzling, considering the new Jane Eyre comes out only three weeks earlier! (WTF kind of timing is that?!)
- got the first black actor playing Heathcliff (ooh, that’s actually quite interesting)
- made by Ecosse Films
- going to be made to suit the Twilight crowd (…oh FFS)
- screenplay was written by Olivia Hetreed (previous works include Girl with a Pearl Earring, which I’ve yet to see)
- filmed in North Yorkshire (Cotescue Park in Coverham; Moor Close Farm in Muker, Swaledale; and Thwaite)
- surprisingly un-talked about, as in, there seems to be very little information about it, even though it’s only 2,5 months left before it opens now
As to the actual casting … that deserves a post all on its own, I reckon. 🙂
Are you excited to see a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights or do you wish just for once they’d pay attention to the other Brontë novels other than Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre?
The casting really was juggled. Michael Fassbender who played Rochester for the newest film adaption of “Jane Eyre” was actually cast as Heathcliff alongside Abbie Cornish until the project was dropped again.
“The Girl with the Pearl Earring” was a GREAT movie that emphasized chemistry through subtle gazes and passionate undercurrents. I would love to see that same quality come through in this film. As for the “Twilight” thing, I think I’m a little scared. I hope they don’t try to modernize too much just to usher to a new crowd. We’ll see how it goes I guess.
Why IS it not being talked about? Is that a good or bad sign? All this is making me anxious! 😛
Was he? Well, there you go! Think I prefer the idea of Fassbender as Rochester rather than Heathcliff, but … I’m sure he would’ve been a great Heathcliff too.
I do and I don’t agree with trying to cozy up to the Twilight crowd. I don’t, because WH is incredibly well-written and a literary classic, and Twilight … well, isn’t. Wouldn’t want to see any dumbing down of a great novel just for the sake of appealing to people who think vampires sparkle in the sun. On the OTHER hand, if those people could be shown what GOOD literature is and use it as a stepping stone to get to novels with HEALTHY relationships (i.e. NOT WH but other classics where the relationship isn’t dysfunctional), then maybe that’s okay.
Have no idea why it’s so quiet about WH. Jane Eyre is more of a smallish, artsy film, but news spilled out every now and then – and pictures … trailers, and so on. This is just complete silence. Wonder why. :/ Maybe closer to the time?