New Delhi: Johnny Depp is set to add another eccentric character to his long list of unique roles. Directed by Ti West, Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol is set to release on 13 November; it is one of Depp’s major feature films following a long break after his very public divorce from Amber Heard. The trailer was released on 24 July, with the “Master of Misfits” appearing as Ebenezer Scrooge. It introduces the Ebenezer family, with Daisy Ridley as Emily Cratchit and Sam Claflin as Fred.
Inspired by Charles Dickens’s 1843 novel, the film follows Scrooge’s encounters with the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Andrea Riseborough, Rupert Grint, and Ian McKellen also star in the film.
Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol at a time when Britons were rediscovering Christmas traditions, including carol singing, while embracing newer customs such as Christmas cards and decorating the Christmas tree. In the novel, Scrooge is an elderly miser who hates Christmas, but through divine intervention learns to be a kinder, gentler man.
Over the years, A Christmas Carol has been adapted into several films and television series. Some of the notable adaptations include Scrooge (1951) starring Alastair Sim, whereas George C Scott starred in the 1984 adaptation. There was even The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) and a 1999 television film starring Patrick Stewart. Then came Disney’s motion-capture A Christmas Carol (2009) led by Jim Carrey, and the BBC’s three-part 2019 mini-series starring Guy Pearce.
Johnny Depp also made a surprise appearance as Scrooge on the streets of San Diego’s Gaslamp District before crashing the film’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this week. The actor is also set to star in the Lionsgate action thriller Day Drinker (2027), alongside Madelyn Cline and Penélope Cruz.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)