If there’s one ingredient that Wuthering Heights absolutely needed to work, it was two movie stars who could make us hang on every word they spoke to each other as Cathy and Heathcliff. Emerald Fennell’s movie definitely lucked out with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, but they knew what they needed to have, too. Robbie said she wanted “insane chemistry,” and there was a clear moment when she realized she had it with her co-star. Funny enough, that scene isn’t actually in the movie.
After Wuthering Heights became one of the biggest 2026 movie releases and available to watch on streaming, it’s interesting to know more about the behind-the-scenes of it all. In an interview with Refinery29, Robbie said there was one scene when she and Elordi knew they “got it” as an on-screen couple:
There were a couple of moments. Even on day one. [We shot] the first scene in the movie where Cathy flings open the bed hangings, and [Heathcliff is] lying in bed. And then we ended up cutting this bit but I walked up over him, and then crouch down and got like this close to his face and told him to, ‘get up, we've got neighbors,’ or whatever it was.
What a wild, fun fact! I would think they’d want the moment the Wuthering Heights co-stars really clicked on set to be kept in the movie, but then again, part of what makes this film good is all the yearning. As Robbie explained:
And we cut that bit because the proximity is something we wanted to save. But, I mean, that was day one, and even then, everyone was kind of like, ‘Whoa.’ And we were like, ‘Okay, I think this movie's gonna work.’ Also just because she's throwing something at him, and he's throwing it back, and he's like, ‘What?’ There was already an intensity between them that I think we could build on from that point.
Oh, but now I want to see this scene! I could totally see these two characters getting too close for comfort while in their shared home without even realizing it, since they grew up together, and then kind of pulling back in more public-facing moments. That being said, I totally trust that if that wasn’t the right move for those characters, it wasn’t right for the movie either. What a good feeling that must have been, though.
When CinemaBlend had the chance to speak to writer/director Fennell, we asked her why it takes so long for the pair to kiss, and she said it was important that she make it “frustrating” for the audience to see these two share scenes but not get intimate yet because “the wait is the fun.” And during our chat with Robbie and Elordi, they told us they think Heathcliff and Cathy fell in love in their very first scene together when they were kids
While it’s easy as an audience member to yell at the TV screen, “just kiss!” in the context of the story – which isn’t really supposed to be an epic romance – they are from two different class systems, and it was considered wrong for them to decide to be a couple or fraternize before marriage. Ultimately, while we yearn for these two, they have an incredibly tragic story. But it’s entertaining nonetheless!
