A Christmas Carol is a holiday classic, and now, one star of the brand-new adaptation Ebenezer has revealed which version influenced his character (and the answer is actually surprising). Ebenezer centers on the titular lead, played by Johnny Depp, and it is, for the most part, adhering to the original story, despite the deviation on the title. Ebenezer is still a money-obsessed, heartless man who needs to be terrified into better behavior by three ghosts, and all of the fan-favorite characters are present, from Bob Cratchit and his son Tim to Jacob Marley and Scrooge’s much kinder-hearted nephew Fred. Also present, of course, are the three main spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future.
In Ebenezer, Tramell Tillman plays the Ghost of Christmas Present, who is generally seen a the most vibrant and jovial of the three (certainly more than the Ghost of Christmas Future). Given that, it makes sense that Tillman’s inspiration for the character might come from other places, although the movie he specifically mentioned as having influenced his take on the character is still unexpected. Check out Tillman’s comments from his exclusive interview with ComicBook below.
Speaking with ComicBook about his role as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Tillman explained, “The irony is that my first memory of A Christmas Carol wasn’t actually A Christmas Carol. It was an interpretation of A Christmas Carol, which was the movie Scrooged with Billy Murray. And, funny enough, that was a little piece of inspiration for Christmas Present…Everyone was very rough and tough with Scrooged, in that movie, so, as approaching Christmas Present, it was important to me to kind of display the rough and heaviness that existed in that time. You know, it wasn’t a friendly time for people in London in those years.”
Tillman continued, “So, since he is Christmas Present, he is embodying the energies, all of the energies, that exist in that space. So, I didn’t want to come at Scrooge with gentle hands, if you will. And because my time as Present was so limited, it was important that he get the lesson in a sharp and maybe even bitter way so that he can actually lock in and make a choice that Christmas Present could not.”
Tillman’s Ebenezer co-stars Sam Claflin and Andrea Riseborough also spoke about their earliest and fondest memories of A Christmas Carol, with Claflin saying, similar to Tillman, “I feel like I may have seen the Disney one first, you know, the Mickey Mouse one. But, honestly, I really remember watching Scrooged, the Bill Murray, modern day, set in New York. That was the one that I remember as a child kind of watching and watching again a few times and being completely, like, spellbound by. I thought it was very fun and funny but clever in a way that made it sort of modern day.” Claflin also mentioned The Muppet Christmas Carol, which remains a fan favorite. Riseborough shared, “Alastair Sim in the ’50s. That was an amazing film, and I remember it played on repeat in the UK when I was younger, certainly.”
In these responses alone, it’s clear that there are so many versions and adaptations of A Christmas Carol, and it will be interesting to see how this brand-new addition, Ebenezer, performs with audiences when it hits theaters later this week.
Do you have a version of A Christmas Carol that’s your go-to? Let us know in the comments down below.
