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Literary Disapproval As Rival Heathcliffs Go Head to Head

Posted on: Monday, 12 May 2008, 09:00 CDT

By Sarah Cassidy

Wuthering Heights is one of the most celebrated and tragic love stories in British fiction. But the tale of obsession and revenge that surrounds Heathcliff's doomed love for the wayward Cathy is set to stir fevered debate among Bront enthusiasts as two new screen versions go into production.

The competing adaptations, both of which will begin shooting later this year, will offer radically different takes on Emily Bront's literary classic.

A three-part television version for ITV, which is described as "edgy, cool and raw" by sources close to the project, will see a distraught Heathcliff kill himself on hearing the news of Cathy's death.

Tom Hardy, 30, who won huge acclaim in Stuart: A Life Backwards takes the role of the brooding Heathcliff, whose all-consuming but thwarted love for Catherine Earnshaw, his foster sister, lies at the heart of the novel. The ITV drama will co-star the newcomer Katie Riley as Cathy.

Andrew Lincoln, who appeared in Teachers and the cult show This Life, will play Edgar Linton, Cathy's gentle childhood friend, who later provokes Heathcliff's furious vengeance by marrying her. The former Coronation Street actress Sarah Lancashire will also appear in the ITV version.

The British film version is expected to see Michael Fassbender, 31, who appeared in Hex and 300, play Heathcliff. But the film has been thrown into chaos after the American actress Natalie Portman withdrew last week despite having previously pursued the role of the tragic heroine. Keira Knightley and Lindsay Lohan had also been reported to be vying for the role.

The film version is likely to stick more closely to the idea of Heathcliff and Cathy as teenage sweethearts. Its script has been written by Olivia Hetreed, who wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed film adaptation of Girl With A Pearl Earring.

Robert Bernstein, of Ecosse Films, which is producing the movie, said: "Heathcliff is an immigrant thrust into a family, a social experiment gone wrong. It goes haywire. "He's not domesticated enough to control his passions, which bubble out of control. Cathy can't let go of him - although he represents all the things she's scared of."

Wuthering Heights was Bront's only novel. It was published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and received mixed reviews. Emily died the following year, but her elder sister, Charlotte, edited and republished Wuthering Heights in 1850 under Emily's real name.

The novel has given rise to many adaptations and has inspired works, including films, radio, television dramatisations, a musical, ballet and opera as well as songs - most notably the hit "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush.

The earliest film version was made in 1920, but all prints of the film are thought to have been lost. The most famous version of the novel starred Merle Oberson as Cathy and Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff and was nominated for the best picture Oscar in 1940. A 1989 version starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliet Binoche performed poorly at the box office. Many of the adaptations of the book do not tell the whole story of the novel, preferring instead to concentrate on the doomed love between Cathy and Heathcliff rather than also include the repercussions on the next generation.

Patsy Stoneman, a Bront specialist and the author of several books on Wuthering Heights, welcomed the new adaptations but said she doubted whether either project could fully capture the essence of the novel.

"There has never been a definitive visual adaptation and there never will be," she said. "They are all partial perspectives on the novel, and it's not like you can add them all together to make a whole."

A spokeswoman for ITV said an announcement on the drama would be made in the next few weeks with the programmes expected to be shown this autumn or early next year.

(c) 2008 Independent, The; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: Independent, The; London (UK)

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