OK, Barb, you've convinced me. I loved him in Schindler's List -- as much as you can love a despicable, vile, evil character, anyway. I will give him a chance as Heathcliff.
Next question: Juliette Binoche as Cathy? For one thing, did she master an English accent?
Not fully. You could hear the French coming through every so often. But I'd say she mastered it better than most American actors do. And she was uneven overall. In her serious moments, I thought she was a perfect Cathy. But as Lee alluded to, she did this sort impetuous giggling thing from time to time that was really distracting. Like I say, I think she was going for making Cathy fickle and flighty, and that does sort of follow from the book (which I *love*, too).
What this production does do beautifully, besides give us the quintessential Heathcliff (I didn't much care for Olivier's rendition of him, either, and thought Merle was sort of an impotent Cathy) is recreate the environment and the time. Wuthering Heights the building is extraordinary - just as I would have imagined it reading the book. And the moors are perfect, too. Oh - and as an added bonus, Jeremy Northam plays Hindley Earnshaw, and Janet McTeer plays Ellen, the housekeeper, who is the conscience of the piece and who is spot on perfect. Simon Shepherd makes a very good Edgar, too. Oh, and wait until you see the beautiful creature who plays Hareton Earnshaw (Heathcliff and Isabella's son). Can't find a photo of him, and it looks from imDb that he hasn't done any TV or movie acting since 2000. You'll just have to check it out and see.
I'd really like to see Maurice, too. I've bumped it up towards the top of my Netflix queue. Of course, I already own EB's Wuthering Heights.
