Andrea Arnold is a wildly original filmmaker. Her movies “Red Road” and “Fish Tank” are unlike almost anything else being made today.

So it came as a surprise when the English director signed on to make yet another adaptation of Emily Bronte’s novel “Wuthering Heights.” But the serious skeptics need not have worried. Arnold’s first move was to replace the relatively well-known actors cast — Gemma Arterton and Ed Westwick — with unknowns. James Howson, who plays the adult Heathcliff, had never acted before.