Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley are set to battle it out for the lead role of romantic heroine Catherine Earnshaw in a new film adaptation of Emily Bronte’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights.

Director John Maybury says: “I certainly wouldn’t count Keira out but it’s whether or not she wants to get back into period costume, because she’s been in a few period dramas. I don’t count Lindsay Lohan out either. I really believe in the girl and she’s coming out from the other side of her well documented problems – she just needs to be treated seriously.”