A mulatto Heathcliff??? Rather, odd...
I will say I first was introduced to the story through the Olivier version and cried until no tears were left. I adore Olivier.
But when I read the book, which I also love, I was shocked and horrified at its endless cruelty and brutality. And why not? Emily Bronte was no idiot lass; she was a mystic, an intellectual and a fierce and brutal woman who endured everything from galloping consumption to rabid dog bite without blinking an eye! She was also the family’s cook which is another reason I adore her. And she put up no sh*t from employers who thought they could steam roll her, lol.
In the novel, Mr. Earnshaw finds the homeless boy Heathcliff described as a "dark-skinned gypsy in aspect", living on the streets of London and takes him in and eventually adopts him. I seem to recall other mentions in the novel of his dark complexion and dark or "black" eyes.
There was a film version in 1992 with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche as Heathcliff and Cathy that was pretty well done and includes the second generation story of the children of Cathy, Hindley and Heathcliff which wasn’t in the Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon version.
Interestingly Merle Oberon was herself part Sri Lankan and Māori, born out of wedlock in Bombay to a 12-year old girl and raised by her grandmother, who also was only 14 when she gave birth to her daughter, growing up thinking her mother was her older sister, something that Oberon kept a closely guarded secret.
I love Olivier is EVERTHING...except that role and in THE ENTERTAINER, which is an abomination.
Still and all, anyone having seen the Olivier version, which is the GOLD STANDARD, and then sees that latest one, where almost the entire cast MUMBLED, had the expressiveness of an Egyptian mummy, and the grace of Nancy Pelosi, wouldn't care for it at all.