{"id":599878,"date":"2026-04-22T16:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/599878\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T16:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:18:09","slug":"james-grays-paper-tiger-to-compete-at-cannes-as-neon-buys-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/599878\/","title":{"rendered":"James Gray’s ‘Paper Tiger’ to Compete at Cannes as Neon Buys It"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAfter weeks of suspense, James Gray<\/a>\u2018s anticipated next film \u201cPaper Tiger\u201d has joined the Palme d\u2019Or race at the Cannes Film Festival. The gritty crime thriller, starring Adam Driver<\/a>, Scarlett Johansson<\/a> and Miles Teller, will world premiere in competition, while Neon has secured North American rights, Variety has learned. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPaper Tiger\u201d follows two brothers as they try to achieve the American dream, only to become \u201centangled in a scheme that turns out to be too good to be true.\u201d The film\u2019s synopsis reads: \u201cAs they try to navigate their way through an ever-more dangerous world of corruption and violence, they find themselves and their family brutally terrorized by the Russian \u2018Mafiya.\u2019 Their bond begins to fray, and betrayal \u2014 once utterly unthinkable \u2014 now becomes all too possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGray is a longtime Cannes favorite and is particularly beloved in France. Over the years, he has brought five films to the Croisette \u2013 \u201cArmageddon Time,\u201d \u201cThe Immigrant,\u201d \u201cTwo Lovers,\u201d \u201cWe Own the Night\u201d and \u201cThe Yards\u201d \u2014 and he also served on the Cannes jury in 2009, when Isabelle Huppert presided.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis films have been handled by a wide range of U.S. distributors, from Miramax (\u201cThe Yards\u201d) and Sony Pictures Classics (\u201cWe Own the Night,\u201d \u201cTwo Lovers\u201d) to Magnolia Pictures (\u201cThe Immigrant\u201d), Amazon Studios (\u201cThe Lost City of Z\u201d), 20th Century Fox (\u201cAd Astra\u201d) and Focus Features (\u201cArmageddon Time\u201d). <\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cPaper Tiger\u201d had been widely expected to make the cut when Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux<\/a> unveiled the official selection on April 9, but was left off the initial lineup. Fremaux told Variety <\/a>he was hopeful the film would be added at a later stage, describing it as \u201ca wonderful film, a very James Gray film, very indie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the James Gray who has never stopped being himself,\u201d Fr\u00e9maux said, noting the project was \u201ccomplicated to put together\u201d and that \u201cthere are still some contractual issues to resolve.\u201d He added, \u201cI hope they\u2019ll be settled very soon and that we\u2019ll be able to announce the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGray will be one of the two American filmmakers competing at this year\u2019s festival, alongside Ira Sachs\u2019 \u201cThe Man I love\u201d starring Rami Malek.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe casting reunites Johansson and Driver after 2019\u2019s \u201cMarriage Story,\u201d for which they both earned Academy Award nominations.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s produced by Rodrigo Teixeira under his RT Features banner and Anthony Katagas for AK Productions alongside Raffaella Leone, Gary Farkas, Marco Perego, Carlo Salem and Andrea Bucko. Executive producers are Lee Broda, Jeff Rice, Riccardo Maddalosso and Emily Salveson. French distribution will be handled by SND. <\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cPaper Tiger\u201d deal cements Neon\u2019s huge presence on the Croisette this year. With \u201cPaper Tiger,\u201d Neon is behind six Palme d\u2019Or contenders at this point, including Arthur Harari\u2019s \u201cThe Unknown,\u201d Cristian Mungiu\u2019s \u201cFjord,\u201d Ryusuke Hamaguchi\u2019s \u201cAll of a Sudden,\u201d Hirokazu Kore-eda\u2019s \u201cSheep in the Box\u201d and Na Hong-jin\u2019s \u201cHope,\u201d a Korean genre film starring Hwang Jung-min, Hoyeon, Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender. The distribution company already has a stellar track record at Cannes, having backed the past six Palme d\u2019Or winners. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After weeks of suspense, James Gray\u2018s anticipated next film \u201cPaper Tiger\u201d has joined the Palme d\u2019Or race at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[35657,88,261087,4114,252485],"class_list":{"0":"post-599878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-adam-driver","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-james-gray","11":"tag-scarlett-johansson","12":"tag-thierry-fremaux"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}