Veteran actor Ian McKellen has said he “fell in love” with his Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol co-star Johnny Depp during the shoot.

“He’s in spankingly good form,” McKellen told Variety. “Effervescent, funny, irreverent, serious — all at the same time. 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”.

“It was only six days, but it was well worth it,” McKellen said. “I play a ghost”.

Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, directed by Ti West, also features Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present and McKellen as Jacob Marley.

Depp plays Ebenezer Scrooge in the remake, marking his first major Hollywood role in nearly eight years. He last appeared in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald before being removed from the franchise.

Depp’s next project, Day Drinker, directed by Marc Webb and co-starring Penélope Cruz, is expected to be released later this year.

McKellen is currently promoting The Christophers, directed by Steven Soderbergh, in which he stars alongside Michaela Coel and James Corden. He plays a once-renowned English painter whose estranged children hire a forger, played by Coel, to pose as his assistant and complete unfinished works for sale after his death.

“I don’t really connect my life with his, except that he’s getting old — and I am old,” McKellen said. “The future is uncertain- but no, it’s certain. I’m going to die. And that hovers over his life and kids’ expectations of what might happen when he dies. Will they or will they not inherit paintings they can sell? I just had a ball.”