Johnny Depp walked the carpet in London on Monday for the premiere of “Ebenezer,” Ti West’s horror-tinged take on “A Christmas Carol,” four days before the film reaches theaters. Depp posed for photographers beside Rupert Grint, his co-star and the former “Harry Potter” actor, at the event. The film opens in UK cinemas on Nov. 13, and Paramount is releasing it in US theaters the same day.
Depp plays Ebenezer Scrooge. The story follows the cold-hearted miser as three spirits force him to confront his past, examine his present and witness a frightening vision of his future. Nathaniel Halpern wrote the screenplay from Dickens’s 1843 novella.
West, the director, arrives from a different genre. He made his name with the horror trilogy “X,” “Pearl” and “MaXXXine,” and the ghosts and visions in Dickens’s story give him familiar material. Paramount’s first trailer, released in July, showed Depp in an uncanny physical transformation. It also showed him facing the ghosts of his past, present and future.
The supporting cast is deep. Daisy Ridley, Sam Claflin, Andrea Riseborough and Ian McKellen appear, along with Arthur Conti, Ellie Bamber, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Charlie Murphy and Tramell Tillman. The production filmed in London.
The release carries weight for Depp. After years working mostly outside the Hollywood system, he is stepping back into the studio spotlight with this film. Commentators have called the project a major test of his standing with mainstream audiences. One preview argued that West’s gothic style and Depp’s introspective performance could produce a reinvention of the classic redemption story. That view rests on speculation rather than reviews, since critics’ verdicts are only now arriving.
The film enters a crowded field. Dickens’s novella has inspired generations of adaptations, from the 1951 Alastair Sim version to “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” Few of those leaned on horror, which gives West’s version a distinct pitch for the holiday season.
Depp’s earlier work suits the assignment. He has played eccentric and macabre figures in “Edward Scissorhands,” “Sleepy Hollow” and “Sweeney Todd.” Paramount has not released box-office projections in the coverage reviewed. Opening weekend figures will show how audiences respond to a darker Scrooge.
