Emily Interview: Emma Mackey and the Cast on the Brontë Sister Dynamic

You’re likely well aware of the classic Wuthering Heights, but what about the voice behind the iconic 1847 novel? That’s exactly what Frances O’Connor digs into in her feature directorial debut, Emily, starring Emma Mackey as Wuthering Heights author, Emily Brontë. Given the degree of mystery surrounding Emily and the Brontë family, O’Connor takes a part fact and part speculation approach to her story. Emily is the second-youngest of the Brontë siblings. There’s Alexandra Dowling’s Charlotte, Branwell Brontë played by Fionn Whitehead, Mackey’s Emily, and then the youngest of the Brontë siblings, Amelia Gething’s Anne. All bonded, all quite different, and all feeling some form of pressure courtesy of inner demons and/or societal expectations. In Emily’s case, she’s forced to navigate an oppressive patriarchy and being branded “the strange one” in order to find and embrace her true vocation. In celebration of Emily’s world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Fe