The Cannes Film Festival just added a hefty dose of star power to its auteur-driven lineup. According to Variety, Paper Tiger, which comes from James Gray (We Own the Night, Little Odessa), is going to make its world premiere at the fest as part of the official selection, where it will compete for the Palme d’Or.
According to the official synopsis, the movie stars Miles Teller and Adam Driver as two brothers “entangled in a scheme that turns out to be too good to be true.” As 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 “Mafiya.” Their bond begins to fray, and betrayal — once utterly unthinkable — now becomes all too possible.” Scarlett Johansson co-stars.
In the run-up to the Cannes Film Festival lineup reveal a few weeks ago, Paper Tiger was heavily tipped to be part of the program, but it was notably absent, with Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux saying it was simply due to “contractual issues.” Likely, it had something to do with the film’s distribution, but now Variety reports that Neon has snapped up the rights. They have no less than six movies in contention at Cannes: Arthur Harari’s The Unknown, Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord(starring Sebastian Stan), Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Sheep in the Box, and Na Hong-jin’s Hope (which co-stars Michael Fassbender).
James Gray is a festival favorite at Cannes, with him having been there a few years ago with the (underrated) Armageddon Time, plus The Immigrant, Two Lovers, We Own the Night, and The Yards. Frémaux noted that Paper Tigerfeels like a throwback to his first film, Little Odessa, which was another crime saga set in the Russian underworld. Gray has directed a wide variety of films, including the epic The Lost City of Z. He’s one of my favorite directors, so it will be a kick to check out his new movie—as I’ll be attending the festival (for the first time) on behalf of JoBlo next month.
Are you excited to see Paper Tiger? Let us know in the comments.
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