A new trailer for Fish Tank writer/director Andrea Arnold’s adaptation of the Emily Bronte classic Wuthering Heights has landed online, and it’s wildly impressive.  For those unfamiliar with the source material, the story centers on the unresolved passion between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and how their love creates a storm of vengeance.  The atmosphere on display in this trailer evokes another recent (and brilliant) Bronte sister adaptation, Cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre, as we see a whirlwind of emotions between the leads Kaya Scodelario (Skins) and Jason Howson.  Arnold’s visuals are striking (the film’s aspect ratio is an unusual 1.37:1) and the trailer is accompanied by a stellar new song from Mumford & Sons, written specifically for this film.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer, and click here to check out Steve’s interview with Arnold from this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  The film was released in the UK last year but finally hits the U.S. in limited release early next month.

At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, I was able to sit down with writer-director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, Red Road) for an extended interview about her adaptation of Wuthering Heights that stars James Howson, Kaya Scodelario, Steve Evets, and Nichola Burley.  Here’s the short synopsis:

“What would you do if you were denied your soulmate? The passionate tale of Heathclith and Cathy, two teenagers whose elemental love for each other creates a storm of vengeance. From Andrea Arnold, comes a new take on the classic, a startling vision of desire and obsession.”

Like her previous films, Arnold has added a realistic take to the material, and it was one of my favorite films at Sundance.   During the interview, Arnold talked about being at Sundance, how she got involved in the project, her writing process, having the film vary its aesthetic depending on the characters age,  what she learned from showing the movie to friends, film vs. digital, what she has coming up, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to read or listen to the interview.

As an iconoclastic adaptation of a classic novel, Wuthering Heights came out of the Toronto International Film Festival with decidedly mixed reviews.  Thankfully for all involved—and the curious like myself—the movie also came home with a distribution deal through Oscilloscope.  The first teaser trailer is online, and highlights the beautiful cinematography and the insistent silence.  (Also, the unusual 1.37:1 aspect ratio.)

James Howson, Kaya Scodelario, Steve Evets, and Nichola Burley star in Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank).  Watch the trailer after the jump.

Our coverage of AFM (American Film Market) keeps on rolling, with Steve nabbing both a photo of the promo poster and a synopsis for Wuthering Heights, the upcoming adaptation of the Emily Brontë novel from director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, Red Road). Hit the jump to check out the promo poster and synopsis.

Update: The studio has asked us to take down the images. Sorry if you missed them.

In what isn’t the most eloquent of Twitter announcements, Kaya Scoledario shared in less than 140 characters on her account [via The Playlist]

“im gonna be in the new Wuthering Heights film! as cathy! should probs read the book… start filming next month,cant wait!”

That was actually kinda painful to copy/paste that–mainly because of the word (er, “word”) “probs”.

Andrea Arnold, who came out of Cannes last year with a Jury Prize for Fish Tank, is set to direct the adaptation of the classic Emily Brontë novel, though the male lead, Heathcliff, has yet to be cast.  But as Ms. Scoledario notes, filming is just a month away, so I’m sure we’ll hear soon.  More after the jump:

Opening this Friday in New York City and Los Angeles is Andrea Arnold’s Cannes Jury
Prize winner, Fish Tank.   The film is a coming-of-age story set in Britain and it’s loaded with great performances by Katie Jarvis and Michael Fassbender.  Here’s the synopsis:

Fifteen-year-old Mia (Katie Jarvis) is in a constant state of war with her family and the world around her, without any creative outlet for her considerable energies save a secret love of hip-hop dance. When she meets her party-girl mother’s charming new boyfriend Connor (Michael Fassbender), she is amazed to find he returns her attention, and believes he might help her start to make sense of her life.

Unlike Hollywood coming of age stories, Fish Tank feels real and not glamorized.  Absolutely recommended.  To help promote the film, I got to speak with Michael Fassbender and he explained why he wanted to make the film, working with Katie Jarvis, the unusual way they filmed the movie, and we even discussed Comic-Con and Centurion.  Watch the interview after the jump:

Michael Haneke, a director whose films are quite good but not for those looking for a nice, pick-me-up (“The Piano Teacher” has nothing do with piano lessons or teaching, I assure you), took home the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival for his film “The White Ribbon” which is a stark black-and-white drama set in a rural German village on the eve of WWI…so still probably not a laugh-a-minute romp.

This is Haneke’s first time taking home the Palme but he’s received love from the festival before, winning Best Director in 2005 for “Cache” and the Grand Prix for “The Piano Teacher”.  Actress Isabelle Huppert, who won Best Actress for “Piano Teacher” at Cannes and served as President of the Jury this year, bestowed the award on a delighted Haneke.

Other awards include the Grand Prix for Jacques Audiard’s tough prison drama, “A Prophet,” and Sony Classics must be pretty happy right now since they bought the rights to both “Ribbon” and “Prophet” before either film screened at the festival.  That’s some nice foresight on their part.

Adding fuel to the Oscar-buzz he’s already gaining for his performance in “Inglourious Basterds”, Christopher Waltz took home Best Actor for his portrayal of Col. Landa, a Nazi “Jew Hunter” (please let the film have bagels on fishing hooks; pleeeease let the film have bagels on fishing hooks) and while Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” provoked strong reactions from its audience, Charlotte Gainsbourg won Best Actress.

Finally, Grand Jury prizes were given to Andrea Arnold for “Fish Tank” and Park Chan-wook for “Thirst”.

Click here to see the full list of award winners.