James Gray’s “Paper Tiger,” starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson, dazzled audiences at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. And now the movie, which is also slated to open the New York Film Festival later this fall, has a brand-new trailer.
Driver and Teller play brothers who get entangled with the Russian mafia in 1980s New York City. Johansson plays Teller’s wife, in a role originally earmarked for Anne Hathaway (this would have, perhaps, been one Anne Hathaway film released in 2026 too many).
“Paper Tiger” premiered at Cannes, where it was in competition for the Palme d’Or and where it received a 10-minute standing ovation following its initial screening (reportedly). Our own reviewer was similarly dazzled, writing: “A taut exercise in suspense, with a couple of bravura sequences that stretch the tension to the breaking point as hubris and wishful thinking lead a family into dangers they didn’t know existed – but it’s also a warmhearted study of family members who can argue and be wildly at odds, but who almost always walk away from each other with the parting words, I love you.”
The film marks Gray’s first feature since 2022’s underrated autobiographical drama “Armageddon Time,” which was far afield of his 2019 space epic “Ad Astra,” starring Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones, which was taken away from Gray during the edit and monkeyed with, much to his displeasure. (The movie is still very good.) Gray is one of the most exciting American filmmakers working today, with projects as varied as the intimate drama “Two Lovers” to broader historical pieces like “The Immigrant” and “The Lost City of Z.” Truly, every new movie of his is an event. As such, “Paper Tiger” is one of the more exciting movies coming out this fall.
Neon will release “Paper Tiger” on Nov. 13. See it with the sibling you’re not quite sure about.
