Natalie Portman pulls out of Wuthering Heights

American actress Natalie Portman (pictured right), last seen in The Other Boleyn Girl, has walked out of a big-screen adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, confirming the thoughts of many - not least the film's director John Maybury - that she was unsuitable for this most English of roles.

According to the Daily Mail, Maybury was distinctly uneasy about Portman being given the part of Cathy Earnshaw, and argued for an English actress. However, Portman, far from being wooed by producers, actively lobbied to be given the chance to play Bronte's tragic heroine, and also insisted that she be given casting approval for Heathcliff. An insider on the film said: "It's fair to say we were seduced by her and we should have been on our guard.”

Maybury is said to have felt that Portman would not be able to get the Yorkshire accent right – if done badly it can sound highly comic (think Norah Batty in Last Of The Summer Wine). And critics of The Other Boleyn Girl were quick to point out that this was not Portman's strong suit, claiming that her voice sounded "colonial" and stage school posh.

Although the production has been thrown into disarray by her departure, it is not doomed. Shooting is not set to begin until July so there is sufficient time to find a replacement.

The First Post reported yesterday that the casting of Juno star Ellen Page in a BBC film of Jane Eyre has also ruffled feathers within the British film industry, though few would dispute the young Canadian is a more accomplished actress than Portman.