Wuthering Heights: The Hidden Roles Behind Emerald Fennell’s Film
In the running joke department of unusual interview questions, Bo Ponomari has a standout story.
When asked, “Do you have a hairy back?” the Ukrainian actor—who also served as a body double on Kingsman: The Golden Circle alongside Pedro Pascal—landed a part in Wuthering Heights as Elordi’s stand-in. Despite being nine inches shorter than the towering star, producers found his build to be “close enough,” enough to cast him as a double.
Ponomari recalls spending about an hour in makeup, receiving prosthetic back scars that the director, Fennell, meticulously checked to ensure they matched Elordi’s exact look.
On set, his job included assisting the crew with camera angles and lighting while providing alternative shots when Elordi was occupied with other scenes.
Yet he concedes he can’t be certain which back the audience ultimately sees on screen—the final cut is often a blend of different sources.
Ponomari explains that a movie’s final product is typically a mix: some shots feature the lead actor, others rely on a stunt performer or a body double.
He describes how large productions are divided into a first unit and a second unit.
“The first unit handles the crucial moments—dialogue, close-ups of the actor’s face, and emotionally intense scenes,” he notes.
“The second unit handles stunts and other work that doesn’t require the principal actor’s presence,” he explains, a role where doubles like back, hand, or general body doubles come into play.
This system helps productions stay on schedule and manage costs. There are times, though, when a scene simply requires a stand-in because an actor can’t or won’t perform it.
“You’ll find actors who, for religious or personal reasons, don’t want to do certain shots, and that’s perfectly fine,” Ponomari says. “There’s a division of people—actors and doubles—who are ready to step in.”
Surprisingly, Ponomari’s stand-in work isn’t the sole jaw-dropper from the Wuthering Heights set.
Lucy London, at 25, doubled for a 14-year-old during filming. Owing to strict child-labor rules and her 5-foot (1.5-meter) height, she was frequently tasked with standing in for younger actors.
In this production, London portrayed Young Cathy, originally played by teen actress Charlotte Mellington.
London finds stepping into a younger self liberating. “As adults, we overthink how we come across and how others perceive us,” she explains. “Children don’t do that as much… it’s a lot of fun.” She adds that being an adult can feel dull, so playing a child on a film set is a pleasant twist—“a win-win situation, really.”
Stunt performers also play a crucial role in safety and spectacle. Nikita Mitchell, who previously worked with Margot Robbie on Barbie, served as Robbie’s stand-in on Wuthering Heights for some of the film’s most perilous moments. Mitchell notes that doubles often train extensively with the stars to faithfully mimic their movements on camera, and she admires Robbie’s willingness to perform many stunts herself.
Mitchell recalls one incident where Cathy skims the edge of a cliff and another where she’s thrown into a tree by Heathcliff. Mitchell prepared harnesses and wires beforehand to protect Robbie’s safety when it was her turn to perform.
There was also a moment where Mitchell literally took the fall for Robbie, catching Cathy as she tumbles from a wall while scouting the grounds of a mansion—the fall spanned eight to ten feet (roughly 2.4 to 3 meters). Mitchell notes she’s tackled far higher cliff drops on wires in the past, so the stunt wasn’t daunting for her.
Like Ponomari, Mitchell admits it can be disappointing when audiences never see the scene you worked on, but she views it as an inherent part of the industry.
Whether or not a scene makes the final cut, stunt performers and body doubles are compensated for their time, typically paid on a daily basis, highlighting the essential but often unseen labor behind every movie moment.
