Ti West's Ebenezer will ponder whether Scrooge had a point, actually

Of course, Ebenezer is Depp’s first big film appearance since a trial centered on whether Heard was legally allowed to say that he beat her. (A judge in the United Kingdom ruled in 2020 that the allegation that Depp was a “wife beater” was “substantially true.”) Still, we have to admit we’re a little surprised to see that the film will also be image rehab for the Charles Dickens character, too. “In other adaptations, Scrooge is kind of an asshole, and then the rest of the characters are benevolent, perfect people. And it was really our goal to try to balance that out to say that there’s much more of a gray area in the story,” West tells EW. “We want to give Scrooge logic and a good argument, so when he is making an argument about something, he’s not wrong.” 

West continues, “As his Scrooge cuts someone down verbally or as he makes a financial point or withdraws, you do understand why he’s doing it.” For example, how would we have guessed that Scrooge wants Bob Cratchit to work on Christmas because it would net him more money? But as West goes on, it’s hard not to read his comments as applying to both Scrooge and the actor who plays him (an actor that test audiences have already indicated they’re pretty fine with). “You find yourself liking a character that you’re not supposed to on paper, which then brings you as the audience into the movie more because you’re experiencing the movie subjectively as he is, rather than just seeing it as a play,” West says. Apparently there are circumstances in which you “gotta hand it” to Ebenezer Scrooge.