{"id":297690,"date":"2026-07-16T15:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/297690\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:21:09","slug":"paper-tiger-with-adam-driver-to-open-new-york-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/297690\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Paper Tiger’ With Adam Driver to Open New York Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJames Gray\u2019s crime drama \u201cPaper Tiger<\/a>,\u201d starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson<\/a> and Miles Teller, will make its North American premiere as the opening night film of the 64th New York Film Festival on Sept. 25.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is Gray\u2019s fourth film to screen at the prestigious festival, following \u201cThe Immigrant\u201d (2013) and \u201cArmageddon Time\u201d (2022), both official main selections, and \u201cThe Lost City of Z\u201d (2016), which was the closing night film. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPaper Tiger,\u201d Gray\u2019s first film since 2022\u2019s \u201cArmageddon Time,\u201d joins a long lineage of opening night selections such as RaMell Ross\u2019 \u201cNickel Boys\u201d (2024), Martin Scorsese\u2019s \u201cThe Irishman\u201d (2019) and Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019 \u201cThe Favourite\u201d (2018) over the last decade.<\/p>\n

\n\tThirteen of the 64 films chosen to open the New York Film Festival between 1963 and 2025 have gone on to earn Academy Award nominations for best picture. Only one opener has claimed the top prize: Hugh Hudson\u2019s \u201cChariots of Fire\u201d (1981). The dozen other best picture nominees span six decades: \u201cThe Big Chill\u201d (1983), \u201cPulp Fiction\u201d (1994), \u201cSecrets and Lies\u201d (1996), \u201cMystic River\u201d (2003), \u201cGood Night, and Good Luck\u201d (2005), \u201cThe Queen\u201d (2006), \u201cThe Social Network\u201d (2010), \u201cLife of Pi\u201d (2012), \u201cCaptain Phillips\u201d (2013), \u201cThe Favourite\u201d (2018), \u201cThe Irishman\u201d (2019) and most recently, \u201cNickel Boys\u201d (2024). <\/p>\n

\n\tNeon premiered \u201cPaper Tiger\u201d at this year\u2019s Cannes Film Festival, where it received a\u00a0seven-minute standing ovation<\/a>.\u00a0In his Variety review<\/a>, chief film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote that the movie \u201chas the dread-fueled engine of a neo-New Hollywood v\u00e9rit\u00e9 thriller.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSet in 1986, the film follows two brothers, Irwin (Teller) and Gary Pearl (Driver). Irwin becomes entangled with the Russian mob after embarking on a get-rich-quick scheme to clean up the Gowanus Canal, and his former cop brother, Gary, is the only one who can get him out of trouble.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cJames Gray has been a fixture at the New York Film Festival for many years, and we are thrilled to welcome him back as our Opening Night filmmaker with a career-best achievement,\u201d said NYFF<\/a> Artistic Director Dennis Lim in a statement.<\/p>\n

\n\tGray added, \u201cI\u2019m immensely grateful to be welcomed back to this remarkable festival. This deeply personal film is rooted in New York City; from my upbringing to life-changing family experiences. To be here, at the heart of art and cinema, with our cast and crew \u2014 many of whom are New Yorkers \u2014 is a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGray and members of the cast and crew will be in attendance.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe NYFF Main Slate selection committee is chaired by Lim, along with Florence Almozini, Justin Chang and Rachel Rosen. NYFF64 single tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at noon ET, with presale access for FLC members and pass holders before then.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore NYFF selections will be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Gray\u2019s crime drama \u201cPaper Tiger,\u201d starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller, will make its North…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,94810,113252,31829],"class_list":["post-297690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-nyff","tag-paper-tiger","tag-scarlett-johansson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}