Emerald Fennell Regrets Cutting Margot Robbie’s “Hairy Armpits” From ‘Wuthering Heights’

Emerald Fennell recently spoke about her new take on Wuthering Heights, and some of the details she wanted in the film did not end up on screen. The information comes from The Guardian reporting on her comments at the Hay Festival in Wales.

Fennell explained that she tried to make the story feel more real in small but noticeable ways. One of those ideas was about body hair. She said she often gets pulled out of period films because women look too modern, especially when they have completely smooth armpits. She questioned it directly in her talk, saying, “Where are the razors that these women are using?” as reported by The Guardian.

Because of that thinking, she wanted Margot Robbie’s character Catherine Earnshaw to have very visible armpit hair in the film. She felt it matched what life in the late 1700s would actually have been like. According to Fennell, this detail was important to her vision, but the scene that showed it did not make it into the final version of the movie. She admitted she was a bit disappointed about it.

In the same discussion, Fennell also talked about how she builds scenes from strange or random thoughts. She described one moment in the film involving a fish in gelatin. She said she once saw a dish like that and got an idea from it. She recalled, “I saw a fish in aspic and I thought, ‘I want to stick my finger in its mouth.’” She added that the idea grew from thinking about extreme emotional and physical frustration in the story.

She also said the production went through many versions of props for that scene. There were different kinds of fish, both real and fake, before the team decided on using a real one. She mentioned that Margot Robbie had to go through a lot during filming, saying there were many takes and many setups, and it was not easy for the actors involved.

Jacob Elordi and Alison Oliver also appear in the film, which is a darker and more emotional retelling of Emily Brontë’s novel. Fennell said her version is not meant to follow the book perfectly. Instead, it is based on her memory of reading it as a teenager and how she personally interpreted the feelings inside the story. She said she combined real parts of the novel with things she imagined or misremembered.

She also explained in her Entertainment Weekly interview that she would have preferred to turn the story into a long series if she had more time. She said, “I think, really, I would do a miniseries and encompass the whole thing over 10 hours, and it would be beautiful,” but she accepted that a movie needs cuts and hard decisions.

The director also talked about her style in general. She said she likes pushing ideas even if they feel awkward or “cringe,” because she thinks modern culture is too afraid of that feeling. She believes discomfort can make art more honest and interesting.

At the same time, the film has also brought attention to its casting choices. Some fans reportedly criticized Margot Robbie’s involvement in the role because of her age, which sparked online debate even before release. That discussion continued around the film as people reacted to the creative direction and casting decisions.

Overall, Fennell’s version of Wuthering Heights is shaped by bold choices, personal interpretation, and scenes that sometimes changed or disappeared during editing.

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