All articles tagged with #james gray
James Gray's 1986-set crime drama 'Paper Tiger' opened the 64th New York Film Festival to warm acclaim, marking the first major awards push for the director. The film, starring Miles Teller, Adam Driver, and Scarlett Johansson, received praise for its classical style and ensemble chemistry, with Neon launching a full Oscar campaign targeting all three leads.
James Gray's 1986-set crime drama 'Paper Tiger' opened the 64th New York Film Festival on September 25, featuring a star-studded cast including Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, and Miles Teller. The film, which premiered at Cannes in May, marks Gray's return to a Hitchcockian style and serves as the festival's opening night selection. Johansson, who missed the Cannes premiere due to filming 'The Exorcist: Martyrs,' attended the NYFF screening despite being jet-lagged from a flight from London, where she is currently shooting 'The Batman: Part 2.' The movie is set for a wide theatrical release on November 13, following a limited release, and is part of Neon's first full Oscar campaign for Gray.
The 64th New York Film Festival opens with James Gray’s ‘Paper Tiger’ and features an unusually high number of world premieres, including ‘Artificial’ and ‘You Can See Everything.’
Neon will mount its first real Oscar campaign for Paper Tiger, James Gray’s Cannes-hit crime thriller starring Miles Teller with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson. Neon plans to push Teller for Best Actor, Driver for Best Supporting Actor, and Johansson for Best Supporting Actress as the film begins a fall awards push after festival showings, including a NYFF premiere, with a limited release on Nov. 13 and wider rollout on Nov. 20, in hopes of finally breaking Gray’s Oscar drought.
James Gray discusses Paper Tiger, his 1986-set drama inspired by his family history, in which Miles Teller plays a blue-collar father who partners with Russian importers while Scarlett Johansson's character battles brain cancer; Adam Driver is his ex-cop brother. Debuting at Cannes and opening the New York Film Festival ahead of a fall release, the film blends private tragedy with gritty melodrama, Hitchcockian flourishes, and Gray's aim for honest, non-flashy cinema. He explains returning to film stock, casting decisions shaped by schedules, and how personal memory—his parents and his mother's illness—shapes the work, with the polluted Gowanus setting serving as a metaphor for moral rot and a defense of ordinary nobility in cinema.
New York Film Festival unveils a starry slate led by Luca Guadagnino's Artificial (world premiere after Neon acquired it) and James Gray's Paper Tiger (Opening Night), plus La Gradiva and Everytime as notable newer titles, and Ava DuVernay’s Netflix documentary 14th closing the festival. Artistic director Dennis Lim explains the festival's flexible Main Slate/Spotlight structure, the emphasis on films that confront urgent global issues, and a measured approach to secret screenings while prioritizing premieres that spark conversation.
James Gray’s crime drama Paper Tiger, starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller, will open the 64th New York Film Festival on Sept. 25. Set in 1986 New York, it follows two brothers entwined with the Russian mob as one plots a get-rich-quick scheme; the Cannes premiere drew a seven-minute standing ovation, and Gray and the cast will attend NYFF’s opening night, with tickets going on sale Sept. 15.
At Cannes, Adam Driver walked the red carpet with Miles Teller and James Gray for Paper Tiger, but after the Lumière Theatre went dark he slipped out of his seat to avoid watching himself, explaining he has a ritual that lets him sneak back in later from a room overlooking boats. Gray praises Driver and discusses writing parts for him, the autobiographical threads in Paper Tiger, and the balance between artistry and Hollywood’s market pressures, including his belief that the industry can humiliate artists. Early reviews for Paper Tiger are glowing, with praise for Driver’s performance and Gray’s blend of crime thriller and family drama.
James Gray’s Cannes premiere Paper Tiger is a tightly wound 1980s New York tragedy about two brothers pulled into a mafia‑adjacent real‑estate scheme: Adam Driver's Gary exudes tragic grandeur while Miles Teller's Irwin clings to hard‑working idealism, as secrets and a health scare threaten to tear the family apart in a city on the edge.
Scarlett Johansson did not attend the Cannes premiere of James Gray's Paper Tiger, with Gray reading a letter from Johansson apologizing for her absence. Reports suggest she was filming Universal's new The Exorcist remake, though Johansson offered no explicit reason for missing the premiere and expressed pride in the film and gratitude to its cast and audience.
James Gray says Scarlett Johansson didn’t answer his Cannes FaceTime call during the six-minute standing ovation for Paper Tiger because she was busy filming in New York, and he hadn’t told her he’d call; Johansson later sent a note praising working with the cast at the press conference, as Gray and stars Adam Driver and Miles Teller discussed the film’s 1980s setting and its themes about a market-driven era.
James Gray’s Paper Tiger premiered at Cannes to a six-minute standing ovation, a crime drama set in 1980s Queens about Hester (Scarlett Johansson) and Irwin (Miles Teller) whose family is pulled into a mob-linked money scheme sparked by Irwin’s flashy brother (Adam Driver). Johansson was absent due to filming the Exorcist prequel, while Driver and Teller attended alongside Gray, who urged cinema’s audience to keep supporting film. Neon will release the movie with reporting added by THR.
At Cannes, director James Gray tried to call Scarlett Johansson on FaceTime to celebrate the film’s 7-minute ovation for Paper Tiger, but she was unavailable due to filming The Exorcist reboot and the call went to voicemail as Gray gestured to his phone; co-stars Miles Teller and Adam Driver stood with him onstage.
James Gray's sixth Cannes premiere, Paper Tiger, earned a 10-minute standing ovation at the Grand Theatre Lumiere. Cate Blanchett and Julianne Moore joined the applause as Gray, visibly moved, thanked the crowd for cinema’s vitality. NEON has US rights; the film stars Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Miles Teller and follows two brothers pursuing the American Dream while getting drawn into a dangerous Russian mafia plot. The premiere adds to Gray's Cannes legacy, though he has yet to win the festival.
Scarlett Johansson, busy filming The Exorcist reboot, didn’t answer James Gray’s FaceTime during the 7-minute Cannes ovation for Paper Tiger. Gray saluted the audience with co-stars Miles Teller and Adam Driver on stage as the film—set in 1986 and centered on two brothers entangled with the Russian mob—premiered in Cannes and Neon will release it domestically.