Johnny Depp shocked punters at the San Diego Comic-Con by making a surprise appearance in character as Ebenezer Scrooge – all to promote his first major, big-budget movie in nearly a decade.
Ahead of the release later this year of Ebenezer, Depp emerged from a faux 1880s Christmas scene dressed in full costume, wearing a top hat and wielding a cane, with his face decorated in mutton chops. He announced himself to gathered fans – who’d waited an hour to see the controversial superstar – as Scrooge, and proceeded to grumble at the crowd.
Many appeared to be dressed as Depp’s famous past characters, including Pirates of the Caribbean’s Captain Jack Sparrow, and Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Depp ignored fans screaming “I love you” as he was in character, and whispered “humbug” when an actor appeared playing one of Scrooge’s employees and asked for a fairer wage.
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The promotional stunt seemed evidence that Paramount Pictures is going all out for the new movie, which is directed by cult horror filmmaker Ti West (of Pearl and X fame), and marks Depp’s first studio film since 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Depp remains a contentious figure in popular culture, after he lost a libel action against The Sun in 2020 over claims that he had assaulted his former wife Amber Heard. Two years later, he broadly won a defamation action against Heard in relation to claims that he had physically and sexually assaulted her.
During this time, he was dropped from his role as Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, and has since only worked on European arthouse films, including Jeanne du Barry and Minamata. He retains a fervent fanbase, however, which Paramount is presumably banking on showing up for Ebenezer.
The first trailer, unveiled overnight, suggests the film is a broad comedy take on Charles Dickens’s original story. The trailer also declares that Depp’s Scrooge belongs in the pantheon of classic Depp characters, with text reading: “He brought us Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands and [Alice in Wonderland’s] The Mad Hatter. This Thanksgiving, the master of misfits returns.”
Andrea Riseborough, Rupert Grint, Daisy Ridley and Ian McKellen also appear in the film, with McKellen courting controversy in April after he said Depp is in “spankingly good form”.
“He’s effervescent, funny, irreverent, serious – all at the same time,” McKellen said. “It was a bit of a love fest, really. I fell in love with him. He’s very obliging to his fellow actors. [There was] a wonderful feeling on the set.”
Ebenezer is released in the US and the UK on 13 November.
