Johnny Depp’s fart machine fooled Tramell Tillman while they were filming Ebenezer. The Severance star was trying to stay in character as his co-star repeatedly supplied noises that seemed to have no obvious source.
The actors revisited the incident in Entertainment Weekly‘s Around the Table interview, published November 13. Director Ti West joined the conversation with cast members Andrea Riseborough, Rupert Grint and Sam Claflin.
Depp, 63, explained that the sound came from a small rubber gadget he could squeeze inside his pocket. He has carried versions of the device for years, using it on fellow actors whose reactions he still remembers.
The conversation accompanied Friday’s theatrical release of Ebenezer, a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Depp plays the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, whose encounters with supernatural visitors force him to confront the life he has built.
Tillman’s Ghost Costume Helped Hide the Prank
Tillman reminded Depp of their first day together, asking whether he remembered pranking him. Depp initially appeared unsure which incident he meant, then imitated the noise. Tillman immediately recognized it.
Playing the Ghost of Christmas Present required Tillman to wear contact lenses that made it difficult to see. He initially mistook Depp for a stand-in, leaving him without a clear view of the person responsible for the interruption.
“I started to think it was me,” Tillman recalled, explaining how the repeated noises and Depp’s convincing timing had fooled him. West joked that anyone near craft services could probably hear Depp coming whenever he had the device with him.
Depp Once Said He Owned About 300 Fart Machines
Riseborough wanted to know whether Depp had tried the joke on Ian McKellen, who plays Jacob Marley. He confirmed that he had and named Michael Gambon among his other targets.
In a May 2011 interview with Parade, Depp said he had about 300 of the devices in a box. He recalled showing one to Marlon Brando, who lifted it into the air while laughing and declared, “I’ve found God.” Penélope Cruz said Depp had given her a plastic version that she used so much it broke.
Cruz had described being pranked herself during a March 2011 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, covered by X17. She remembered noises interrupting a dramatic close-up and worrying the crew would blame her. A decade after they worked together on Blow, she said Depp had upgraded from a plastic gadget to a remote-controlled model.
Rupert Grint Says Depp Finds Humor in Tiny Moments
Grint, who plays Bob Cratchit, described Depp as “very mischievous” in a November 10 interview with Extra. He had admired Depp for years and praised his ability to disappear into a character. Grint said the humor was welcome while making a film that emphasizes the ghost story and the hardships of Victorian London.
During the cast’s group interview, Grint admitted that Depp’s performance noises made it difficult to keep a straight face. Claflin, who plays Scrooge’s nephew Fred, described scenes in which his character was supposed to be unable to hear Scrooge. Depp’s distracting sounds made that particularly challenging.
Depp spoke about enjoying spontaneous exchanges with other actors and responding to whatever happened during a scene. Claflin remembered how the combination of his makeup, physical movements, voice and laugh had made his first encounter with Depp’s Scrooge both unsettling and entertaining.
Ti West Built a Gothic World for Ebenezer
West, known for X, Pearl and MaXXXine, directed from a screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern. In Paramount‘s production feature, he described wanting audiences to connect emotionally with the story while drawing on the supernatural elements that had fascinated him as a child.
Tillman’s coat incorporated individually crafted silk leaves. Riseborough’s transformation into the Ghost of Christmas Past took about five hours each day, while McKellen had the opportunity to play Marley before his death as well as during his ghostly return.
Production designer Eve Stewart’s team built London streets at the Historic Dockyard Chatham, laying individually stamped concrete cobblestones. West had the cast sing Christmas carols live on those sets, surrounded by falling snow and fog.