There are so many film adaptations of Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights, that it’s difficult to believe that someone wants to make another one. But there is someone and that someone is Natalie Portman.

Well, WAS Natalie Portman.

Universally described as one of the driving forces behind this new adaptation, Natalie was all lined up to play Cathy Earnshaw in the film until suddenly, she left the project due to “scheduling conflicts” with an unnamed project.

Brit director John Maybury is going to have to find himself a new Cathy, but the whole thing seems a little out-of-character for the usually passionate Portman.

The only other Portman project making the development rounds is Natalie’s directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness. That film is slated for a 2009 release and deals with the Portman-sensitive issue of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as proposed by Amos Oz.