Margot Robbie Became Obsessed With Jacobi Elordi Filming ‘Wuthering Heights’

Wuthering Heights, Emerald Fennell’s movie adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel, is almost here. Margot Robbie (Barbie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) plays Catherine Earnshaw, a headstrong young woman who grows up alongside Heathcliff, an orphan boy taken in by her father (Martin Clunes). Heathcliff is played by Jacob Elordi, who’s blown up in recent years thanks to movies like Saltbirn and Frankenstein.

Catherine and Heathcliff share an intense passion for one another, something the movie is bearing down on; the trailer raised eyebrows for its extreme steaminess. But Catherine ends up marrying the wealthy, socially distinguished Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif) instead of Heathcliff. Enraged, Heathcliff dedicates himself to revenge, marrying Edgar’s sister Isabella (Alison Oliver) and then treating her terribly.

Wuthering Heights has remained a popular book for well over a century, inspiring many movie and TV adaptations, books, and songs. The jealous relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff has long been the main draw, and in the case of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi — whose castings were both met with some controversy — life seems to be reflecting art at least a little bit.

Interviewing each other for Vogue Australia, Margot asked Elordi to name his favorite scene from the movie. “I really didn’t like shooting when Margot wasn’t there,” he answered.

Robbie: “I hated shooting when you weren’t there.”

Elordi: “There was this moment when she was off with Shazad [Latif] for god knows how long.”

Robbie: “And you were off with Alison [Oliver]. And I was like, this is just not right!”

Elordi: “Loved shooting with Alison, and Shazad’s a great guy.”

Robbie: “Love them more than anything. But I was like, he’s mine!”

Margot Robbie Admits She Grows “Codependent” With the People She Works With

The actors shared a few examples of the close relationship they shared on set. For instance, on Valentine’s Day, Elordi filled Robbie’s dressing room with roses. Speaking to Fandango along with the rest of the cast, Robbie revealed that intense attachments like this are the norn when she’s working on a project. “I’m so codependent with people I work with and I love everyone so much, and I’m always that person who’s so devastated when a job’s over, and I never want it to end,” she said. “I think I developed that quite quickly with Jacob too.”

This all makes sense for the movie, since Catherine and Heathcliff are famously obsessed with each other. Robbie even worked that aspect of their relationship into her copy of the script. “I color-coded my script,” she said. “I went through everything and I mapped it all out to a different color. When she was with Heathcliff, it was always pink to red. The closer you were, the stronger the pink-red color would be. Then the further you were, I would be more blue.”

The intensity with which Robbie and Elordi talk about each other kind of recalls the way Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo behaved in interviews ahead of Wicked: Part Two, something people noticed at the time. Will it make their performances better? We’ll find out when Wuthering Heights opens in theaters on February 13, just in time for Valentine’s Day.