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| James Gray flanked by Adam Driver and Miles Teller Photo: Festival de Cannes |
James Gray has returned to the Cannes Film Festival with Paper Tiger, a retro crime thriller about a pair of brothers, Irwin and Gary Pearl (Adam Driver and Miles Teller), who accidentally find themselves on the wrong side of a bunch of Russian mobsters in Eighties New York. To make matters worse Irwin’s family, his wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson) and sons Scott (Gavin Goudey) and Benjamin (Roman Engel) also come under threat.
The film premièred in the competition at the festival, the fifth time that Gray has had the honour, after The Yards, (2000), We Own The Night (2007), Two Lovers (2008), The Immigrant (2013) and Armageddon Time (2022).
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| Adam Driver in Cannes Photo: Festival de Cannes |
At the press conference in Cannes for the film, which he attended along with Driver and Teller and other members of the crew, he read a message from Johanson, who said: “Working with James, in this extraordinary cast was one of the great pleasures of my career.
“I feel so fortunate to have been part of a story so deeply rooted in, what matters, most human connection identity and the way our values evolve across generations.”
The director had tried to FaceTime his star during the standing ovation for the film at the première on Saturday but she is currently busy filming a reboot of The Exorcist and did not pick up.
Johansson’s note added that “collective empathy is something we could certainly use more of right now and my hope is that, by making movies like this one, we can feel even for a couple of hours in the dark, a part of the shared human experience”.
Asked about the film as a continuation of his work and its connection to his first film, Little Odessa, Gray said: “I’m trying to do things that are personal and that matter to me and issues that matter to me and themes that matter to me. And so, of course, there's going to be repeated stuff. But I actually think it's a good thing. I don't think it's a bad thing. I think if you have anything to say, I don't mean say on a soapbox, but I mean anything to really express, if it's coming out somewhat clearly, it will be repeated over and over. You kind of make the same movie over and over again in different modes.”
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| James Gray in Cannes Photo: Festival de Cannes |
Teller said that the whole cast had enjoyed working on the film. He added: “There's an earnestness, and a sensitivity, and a thoughtfulness to the work and that comes directly from James. He said that the number of scenes involving the character and his family allowed him “to attach something personal from my own life and be able to share it but it felt very much like a family when we were on set. It was a small tight-knit group and that was something I very much appreciated.”
Driver added: “Well, James sets the tone. It all comes from the top down and a lot of it is so specific in the script so there's not much work that you have to do, but I guess the the impulse because we were fighting time and a small budget would be that we have limited takes and we're not going to provide space for improvisation but I think because it's so clear in the script and because it's good writing. He's very respectful of actors’ process, even if it's different within the same film and that's the priority over any shot. So he provides you a lot of room and freedom to try something. And because again, it's rich writing, there's many options.”
Driver also briefly joked about Lena Dunham’s comments about him on the set of Girls. In her memoir Famesick she wrote he was “verbally aggressive” after she once forgot her lines and “hurled a chair at the wall next to me”.
When asked about it Driver said: “I have no comment on any of that – I’m saving it all for my book.”
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| Miles Teller in Cannes Photo: Festival de Cannes |
It was a generally good natured press conference, with Teller also joking about how tall Driver is at 6ft 3in. When asked if there was anything that surprised him about his co-star he said: “Adam's taller. I'm pretty good sized. I'm like, 6ft 1in – I haven't worked with The Rock but usually I’m the biggest person on set. My hand felt very small when Adam shook it.”
He also said he had no idea his co-star could play the piano, “so that’s really impressive”.
He added: “Adam is such an alive actor. I really enjoy never doing the same thing twice and I felt like we were able to find so much on the day and with each take, find something different.”
When asked his height, Driver replied: “6ft 3in. Fitting in doorways is a challenge, finding shoes is a challenge.” he added: “I loved working with Miles, He doesn't have to do much just because he has such a rich internal life. He's prepared, he's available, he's on time and he'll go anywhere that you want to go and try anything and he keeps the mood light. It doesn't get too heady or dark and it kind of keeps the room in the moment.”
