Episode 120: Wuthering Heights & Romeo + Juliet

About this episode

The episode discusses the adaptations of Wuthering Heights and Romeo + Juliet, focusing on performances and personal reactions.

Classic stories retold. Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss Wuthering Heights (2026) and Romeo + Juliet (1996). Emerald Fennell's adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet provide us with a wealth of points to talk about. We begin by discussing our reactions to 1996's Romeo + Juliet. We talk about the presence of this adaptation in high school classrooms, our initial reactions to the film both back in the day and now, and the high energy editing, acting and production elements. We break down the performances of Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the titular Romeo and Juliet, as well as praising the performances of John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlewaite, Paul Sorvino, Paul Rudd, Diane Verona and even Annette Bening. We discuss our reactions to Wuthering Heights, starting with our knowledge of the book (which none of us have read) and our expectations of Emerald Fennell's after our experiences watching Promising Young Woman (2020) and Saltburn (2023). We talk about the casting and performances of Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes and Shazad…

People in this episode

Guests: Sarah Watt, Jeremy Downing, William Chen

Topics covered

• Wuthering Heights
• Romeo + Juliet
• film adaptation
• classic literature
• performance analysis

Keywords

• classic stories
• high school
• editing
• acting
• production

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Wuthering Heights, Romeo + Juliet, Promising Young Woman, Saltburn

Books & works: Wuthering Heights & Romeo + Juliet, Wuthering Heights, Romeo + Juliet, Romeo and Juliet, Promising Young Woman, Saltburn

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