Bizarre reason why new Wuthering Heights movie has quotation marks in title
Margot Robbie said viewers will be surprised by the film, but not in the way they might think
We're just weeks away from the highly anticipated Emerald Fennell adaptation of Wuthering Heights hitting cinemas - perfectly timed for Valentine's Day in the US and UK.
The upcoming romance flick, which stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, is being promoted as a scandalous and intoxicating take on Emily Brontë's classic 1847 novel of the same name, following Fennell's acclaimed work on Saltburn.
There's already been a bunch of discourse online about the adaptation, with the internet seemingly split right down the middle. Half are buzzing over the Charli XCX-soundtracked steamy film, while others reckon it's strayed way too far from its bookish origins.
Adding to the social media chatter, the title of the movie actually has quotation marks around it, so it reads 'Wuthering Heights' - and this punctuation addition was a very deliberate choice by Fennell.
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Explaining the reasoning behind the move, the award-winning British director told Fandango: "I think it's a lot of things, but I think that primarily because the book means so much to me and it means so, so much to so many people.
"And I think 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 very important that everyone who loves it as much as I do feels almost a part of it, I guess."
She added: "The thing for me is that 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 that I remembered reading that isn't quite real.
"And there's a version where I wanted stuff to happen that never happened.
"And so it is 'Wuthering Heights', and it isn't."
Fennell has previously spoken out on her 'primal, sexual' version of the story, noting: "It’s an emotional response to something."
Robbie, who is also a producer on the film, told British Vogue that the audience will be surprised by it, though not in the way they might think.
"Everyone's expecting this to be very, very raunchy. I think people will be surprised. Not to say there aren't sexual elements and that it's not provocative – it definitely is provocative – but it's more romantic than provocative.
"This is a big epic romance," she explained.
"It was the little things that we loved as two women in our 30s, and this movie is primarily for people in our demographic. These epic romances and period pieces aren’t often made by women."
Wuthering Heights will hit selected UK cinemas on 13 February.
Topics: TV And Film, Cinema, Books, Celebrity, Social Media, Explained
Rhiannon Ingle