The internet’s most outspoken auteur, Paul Schrader, has weighed in on Jacob Elordi‘s “Wuthering Heights” casting.
While the announcement of Elordi as literary brooding bad boy Heathcliff was met with initial backlash, Schrader is assuring audiences that Elordi is more than ready to take on the iconic character. Schrader cast Elordi in his feature “Oh, Canada” prior to Elordi’s later breakout turns in “Priscilla” and “Saltburn”; Elordi is reuniting with his “Saltburn” writer/director Emerald Fennell for the “Wuthering Heights” adaptation. The film co-stars Margot Robbie, who produced Fennell’s prior two features through her LuckyChap banner.
Schrader told i-D that if Elordi can pull off playing Heathcliff, then the actor can “do it all.”
“Doing this [‘Oh, Canada’] was a good move for him,” Schrader said, “but now he’s got one big test left as a movie star, and that’s Heathcliff. If he can play Heathcliff in this new ‘Wuthering Heights,’ he can do it all.”
Schrader added that he had “watched a few episodes” of Elordi’s series “Euphoria” too.
“I liked it! It’s not a regular experience for me, but I enjoyed them,” Schrader said.
And even “Euphoria” fans were waiting in the wings during the “Oh, Canada” production to spot Elordi, who played a younger version of Richard Gere’s documentarian character in the feature.
“There was one day on set when a group of admirers had gathered nearby,” Schrader recalled, “and Richard [Gere] walked out to say hello to them, assuming they were for him, only to find out they were all here to see Jake. He’s going to do well.”
While Elordi has “Wuthering Heights” on the horizon, Schrader has a few features in the works: “Non Compos Mentis,” “The Basics of Philosophy,” and “My Betrayal.”
Schrader previously teased “Non Compos Mentis” to be “a noir [about] a kind of sexual obsession.” The film is next to go into production and is set to start filming in April 2025.
He told i-D that “My Betrayal” is a new script also in the works.
“I’ll probably finish that one tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll give you the title, and that’s all: ‘My Betrayal.’ Leaves the question of whether you’re betraying or being betrayed.”
As for “Non Compos Mentis,” Schrader is unsure if he will still direct it.
“The next film, ‘Non Compos Mentis,’ which was going to start pre-production in December, has been pushed back a couple months. We’re looking at an April shoot now. Because of that delay, in between writing ‘Non Compos Mentis,’ I’ve been able to start on this new script,” Schrader said, citing “My Betrayal.”
He continued, “By the time spring rolls around, I might even be in a place where I’d rather do one of the new ones and sell off ‘Non Compos Mentis.’ I wrote it for me to direct, but it’s a genre piece. It’s noir. First one I’ve done in quite a while where I was able to raise financing without cast; that means you’ve got a good strong story. Maybe I’ll leave that for someone else to direct, and pursue one of my other ideas. At a certain point, you gotta start thinking about how many bullets are left in the gun.”
