Oscar-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell has promised a raw and “primal” take on Emily Brontë’s classic novel Wuthering Heights in her upcoming film adaptation, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.

Speaking in Brontë’s hometown of Haworth, West Yorkshire, during the Brontë Women’s Writing Festival, Fennell revealed that her goal was to recapture the overwhelming emotions she felt as a teenager when she first read the novel. “It cracked me open,” she said. “It’s primal, sexual. It’s complicated, it’s devastating—and it’s completely singular.”

The release of the film’s erotically charged trailer earlier this month stirred widespread debate, with its provocative imagery—including bread being kneaded suggestively and a finger sliding into a fish’s mouth—hinting at Fennell’s signature unsettling style.

Fennell, who won an Academy Award for Promising Young Woman (2021) and gained a cult following with last year’s Saltburn, is once again embracing bold, confrontational storytelling. Her Wuthering Heights is set to heighten the gothic atmosphere of Brontë’s turbulent 1847 tale of doomed romance and obsession.

Describing Brontë’s novel, Fennell said: “It’s so sexy. It’s so horrible. It’s so devastating. It’s not like anything else.”

With its star-studded cast, heightened gothic visuals, and erotic undertones, Fennell’s adaptation looks set to be one of the most provocative and talked-about literary films of the year.