A dialect coach has weighed in on the Yorkshire accents of Australian actors Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in the upcoming film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell. The film, based on Emily Brontë's classic novel, is set to be released in UK cinemas on February 13.
Sarah Valentine, a celebrity accent coach, assessed the pair's performances after watching the trailer. She noted that neither accent was perfect, but one was significantly better than the other. Regarding Robbie's accent, Valentine explained that her character, Catherine Earnshaw, would naturally adapt her speech as she rises in society, so a flawless Yorkshire accent was not expected. However, she observed that Robbie's accent slipped during moments of heightened emotion, such as crying or arguing.
Valentine said: 'Her accent isn't perfect. I wouldn't say that her accent is amazing but in heightened moments I noticed it dip out, but it's good, and overall, it makes sense for the character. It just wavers on certain words.'
In contrast, Valentine praised Elordi's Yorkshire accent as Heathcliff, admitting she had not realised he was Australian until she looked it up. She commented: 'Personally, I think his Yorkshire accent is great. There are so many different Yorkshire accents, but there will be Yorkshire folk who don't like it because it doesn't sound like them, which is fine. What really matters is that the accent doesn't pull you out of the film, and a good actor makes sure it never does.'
The film's title appears in quotation marks, which director Emerald Fennell explained was because a completely faithful adaptation of the novel was 'not possible'. She said: 'What I can say is I'm making a version of it. There's a version that I remembered reading that isn't quite real. And there's a version where I wanted stuff to happen that never happened. And so it is 'Wuthering Heights', and it isn't.'
