Johnny Depp Is Back as Scrooge in the New 'Ebenezer' Trailer
Paramount's take on 'A Christmas Carol,' directed by Ti West, opens Nov. 13. It is Depp's first major-studio movie since 2018.
Paramount Pictures released a new trailer for Ebenezer on Thursday. The film stars Johnny Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge.
The movie is Ti West's adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. West directed the horror trilogy X, Pearl and MaXXXine. It opens in theaters on Nov. 13.
The cast includes Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley, Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley, Arthur Conti, Ellie Bamber, Henry Lloyd-Hughes and Charlie Murphy. In the trailer, Marley's ghost warns Scrooge that three spirits will visit him over Christmas.
It is Depp's first film released by a major Hollywood studio since 2018's Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Since the end of his widely publicized 2022 defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard, he has worked on independent and European projects, starring in the French film Jeanne du Barry, which opened the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, and directing Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness. He is also set to appear in the Lionsgate thriller Day Drinker, with Penélope Cruz and Madelyn Cline, next year.
West told Entertainment Weekly he wanted to stay faithful to Dickens. “I love the book, so I’m really not trying to do a spin on the story that is not faithful to the story or is some sort of meta tweak on it,” he said. “It is genuine. It has its own perspective, and it has its own places where it deviates a little bit. And stylistically, I do certain things with it that are maybe in my wheelhouse, but they’re all very much in reverence of the text.”
Of Depp, West said: “He has a way of hitting all of the classic Scrooge moments that make him an unlikable guy, but there’s a certain sense of humor and charm to it as well.” Asked about comparisons to Depp’s famous roles like Captain Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka, West said the actor’s Scrooge is “its own thing.”
Depp appeared in character as Scrooge at San Diego Comic-Con in July, where the first trailer debuted. A source told People the film “felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for Depp and described it as “a very special project for him.” “He’s back in a character role, which he loves,” the source said.
