Emma Mackey on Channelling the Spirit of Emily Brontë for Frances O’Connor’s Not-Quite-Biopic

If Weightman “has shades of Edgar Linton” to his personality, Emily’s brother Branwell (Fionn Whitehead) is a more Heathcliff-esque character—pushing his younger sister to explore her darker side during opium-fueled treks across the moors. As in Wuthering Heights itself, there are no simple heroes and villains here, with the audience never quite sure of the power dynamic in any relationship. “You’re never on solid ground,” Mackey enthuses. “The lines between the natural and the supernatural, light and dark, desire and repression, are all blurred.”

Emily’s numerous depictions of teenage rebellion will elicit comparisons to Dickinson, but the drama fully immerses viewers in the peculiar world of the Brontës sans cleverly anachronistic distractions. (No A$AP Rocky and Billie Eilish-filled soundtrack here.) “You definitely get a sense of how extraordinary it would have been to have all of those brains under one roof—and how unusual their lives were for that time,” Mackey says. And while the plot of Emily may be a far cry from a straight biopic, the production is full of historical references. Take the blue dress featuring a lightning bolt print that Mackey wears—recreated as a nod to an actual conversation-starting pattern Emily chose for herself during a trip to the dressmaker.

“Our costume designer Michael O’Connor is known for his attention to detail—so of course I wore the corsets and all of that, which really does impact how you speak, how you breathe, everything. What I really loved, though, is how many of the pieces that I wore as Emily to do chores around the house felt almost… grubby—like actual practical clothes rather than ‘costumes.’ There’s a real difference between the way that Emily dresses at home and when she’s out on the moors as well; her bonnet always comes off at once, like she’s physically shedding her restrictions.”