Paramount has revealed the first official look at Johnny Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge, releasing a new poster for Ti West’s “Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol” ahead of its November 13 theatrical release, according to ScreenRant. The image shows Depp in close-up, top hat pulled low, snow falling around him, alongside the tagline “The name you know. The story you don’t,” per The Playlist.
A Hollywood Comeback
The casting itself has carried as much weight as the film. It marks Depp’s first major studio role since 2018’s “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” which he exited after losing a libel case against the British tabloid The Sun over allegations tied to his ex-wife, Amber Heard, according to Variety. In the years since, Depp has kept mostly to smaller or international projects, including “Jeanne du Barry” and “Day Drinker,” and directing the 2024 biopic “Modì.” The Playlist framed his casting as a sign the industry may consider his exile largely over.
Depp appears to be leaning into the moment himself — he’s pared his Instagram down to just three posts, arranged to spell out Scrooge’s signature complaint, “Bah Humbug,” according to Cinemablend.
Ti West, best known for his horror trilogy “X,” “Pearl,” and “MaXXXine,” directs from a script by Nathaniel Halpern (“Tales from the Loop,” “Legion”). The film is being pitched as a darker, more ghost-forward retelling of Dickens’ novella than past adaptations, according to Irvine Times, with a second tagline — “Before he was Ebenezer, he was Scrooge” — hinting at more of an origin-story structure than a straightforward retelling, per World of Reel.
The supporting cast includes Andrea Riseborough, reportedly playing the Ghost of Christmas Past, along with Ian McKellen, Daisy Ridley, Rupert Grint, Tramell Tillman, and Sam Claflin, according to AOL. Producer Emma Watts is overseeing the project for Paramount, with Stephen Deuters and Jason Forman serving as executive producers.
Dueling Scrooges
Depp won’t be the only actor bringing Scrooge back to screens around the same period. Robert Eggers, the director of Nosferatu, is developing his own adaptation of A Christmas Carol at Warner Bros., with Willem Dafoe eyed for the lead role, according to Variety. The project sets up a possible rivalry between two competing, prestige-leaning horror-flavored takes on the classic Dickens tale.
