Paramount Pictures dropped the first trailer for “Ebenezer” on Thursday, giving audiences their first real look at Johnny Depp’s transformation into Ebenezer Scrooge for Ti West’s dark reimagining of Charles Dickens’ 1843 classic “A Christmas Carol.” The footage premiered during the Collider Directors on Directing panel in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, where Depp appeared in character to introduce it himself. The reveal capped off a busy day for the actor, who staged a surprise in-character street performance as Scrooge at the convention earlier that afternoon to build buzz ahead of his Hall H appearance.
The trailer leans hard into the horror sensibilities West is known for from his “X,” “Pearl” and “MaXXXine” trilogy, presenting Scrooge as a man tormented by genuinely unsettling spirits rather than the more whimsical ghosts audiences are used to from past adaptations. Between visitations, Depp’s Scrooge is shown terrorizing the snow covered streets of Dickensian London, hurling insults and snowballs at passersby and generally reveling in his miserable reputation. The footage closes on Depp delivering a simple line in character, “It’s good to be back,” a moment that doubles as a nod to the actor’s own return to major studio filmmaking.
Paramount’s official synopsis leans into that same idea for its marketing, describing Scrooge as “the name you know, the story you don’t.” The studio is positioning “Ebenezer” as a fresh, considerably darker take on material most audiences already feel they know by heart. West directed from a screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern, with Emma Watts producing alongside a group of executive producers that includes David Reid, Adam Bohling, Stephen Deuters, Jason Forman, Pete Chiappetta, Anthony Tittanegro and Andrew Lary.
The cast surrounding Depp is stacked with names familiar to genre and prestige audiences alike, including Rupert Grint, Andrea Riseborough, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley, Arthur Conti, Ellie Bamber, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Charlie Murphy, Tramell Tillman and Ian McKellen. For Depp and Ridley, “Ebenezer” marks their second film together following 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express.”
“Ebenezer” represents Depp’s biggest studio release since his headline making legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard, a stretch of years that saw him lose his role as Gellert Grindelwald in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise and pivot toward smaller international projects like “Minamata” and “Jeanne du Barry,” along with directing the indie feature “Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness.” His casting in Ti West’s Scrooge adaptation, alongside an upcoming turn in the Lionsgate thriller “Day Drinker” opposite Penelope Cruz and Madelyn Cline, has been read across the industry as a genuine return to the spotlight for the three time Oscar nominated actor.
“Ebenezer” opens in theaters on November 13.
