Washington [US], October 2 (ANI): Actor Johnny Depp returns to mainstream Hollywood as Ebenezer Scrooge in the official trailer for Paramount’s supernatural revenge thriller ‘Ebenezer’, a dark and gothic reimagining of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol.
Directed by horror filmmaker Ti West, the film is set for release on November 13.
The trailer presents Depp as an almost unrecognisable Scrooge- a wealthy, bitter businessman who values money above all else and coldly rejects pleas for charity.
He also pushes away family members who attempt to connect with him before his life takes a terrifying turn on Christmas Eve.
The supernatural horror begins when Scrooge is visited by the spectral apparition of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, played by Ian McKellen.
Marley warns him that he will be haunted by three spirits, setting Scrooge on a frightening journey through his past, present and future.
The trailer, released under the tagline “The name you know, the story you don’t,” combines gothic horror with flashes of dark comedy. At one point, Scrooge jokingly asks whether he can “just meet with them all at once and have it over and done with”.
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Another lighter moment shows him throwing snowballs at a couple, contrasting with more disturbing imagery, including Scrooge being buried alive.
Depp’s Scrooge begins the trailer by turning directly to the camera and saying, “It’s good to be back.”
The film then follows his increasingly terrifying encounters with the three spirits before ultimately pointing towards his redemption.
The trailer concludes with Scrooge undergoing a dramatic change from a terrified and bitter miser to a man embracing a new lease on life. “I’m alive! I don’t know what to do!”, he says in the footage.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the cast also includes Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, and Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley. Daisy Ridley, Sam Claflin, Charlie Murphy, Arthur Conti and Ellie Bamber round out the ensemble.
West directs the film from a screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern, adapting Dickens’ 1843 novella.
Ebenezer marks Depp’s first mainstream Hollywood role since 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald from Warner Bros.
More recently, the actor appeared in the period film Jeanne du Barry and focused on international productions. (ANI)
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