The casting director behind the new Wuthering Heights adaptation isn’t just hearing the backlash — she’s grabbing the megaphone and firing back.
Kharmel Cochrane, who cast Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Catherine and Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s upcoming film, has gone on record defending her choices after fans and English Lit diehards lost their collective minds over the announcement.
Cochrane addressed the controversy surrounding bringing Emily Brontë‘s work to life head-on during a Q&A at the Sands Film Festival in Scotland, where she admitted she’s seen some pretty wild reactions online.
“There was one Instagram comment that said the casting director should be shot,” she told Deadline.
“But just wait till you see it, and then you can decide whether you want to shoot me or not. But you really don’t need to be accurate. It’s just a book. That is not based on real life. It’s all art.”
For those keeping score at home: Robbie, at 34, is playing the famously teenage Catherine, and Elordi, 27, is taking on Heathcliff-a character described by Brontë as “dark-skinned”, a detail many believe points to Romani or mixed-race heritage. The casting has sparked accusations of whitewashing and age inaccuracy, with some fans wondering if anyone involved actually read the book.
“Cathy’s entire thing is that she is an uncertain, messy teenager and we have 30-something Margot Robbie in that role. Just why….. And Heathcliff is NOT supposed to be white. Period. The optics of casting a POC might be difficult but still,” said one X user.
“How many times are they going to ignore the fact Heathcliff is canonically a man of colour?” said another.
But Cochrane is unbothered. Her approach to casting? If the script says “she tied her blonde hair back” but there’s no plot reason for it, she’ll put all sorts of actors on tape.
“It’s almost as if I challenge someone to question why I’ve done it, and they don’t. So then it just becomes normal,” she explained.
“Years ago, I would get people saying, ‘Did you read the brief?’ And I’d say, ‘Yeah, and this is my interpretation of it, just like when you can read a book’.”
Michael Stewart, director of the Brontë Writing Centre, spoke to the The Daily Telegraph last year when the backlash first began around Elordi’s casting. He said, “With Wuthering Heights, you’ve had many years of white actors playing the more ambiguous ethnic character… But things are different now, the way we represent certain people in art and culture comes with a responsibility now that wasn’t there 20 years ago.”
So, will this adaptation be a bold artistic reimagining or just another example of Hollywood doing whatever it wants with the classics?
Cochrane’s advice: “Just wait till you see it, and then you can decide whether you want to shoot me or not.”
Until then, the debate rages on-and if nothing else, at least we know the film won’t be boring.
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