James Grey needs to set the report straight about Scarlett Johansson’s refusal of his FaceTime name in the course of the six-minute standing ovation on the Cannes premiere of his newest movie, Paper Tiger Saturday night. (The director shrugged dramatically as the decision got here in as he and actors Adam Driver and Miles Teller stood within the highlight in entrance of the complete viewers on the Grand Théâtre Lumière – in one of many nice comedic moments of Cannes 2026.)
“I wish to be honest to Scarlett, I did not inform her I used to be going to FaceTime her! I believed I would get fortunate, however she works and stuff in New York.” » Grey mentioned with amusing throughout Sunday’s press convention.
The absence of the movie’s largest stars, and arguably one of many largest film stars from this yr’s silent competition, was a giant disappointment to the screaming crowd outdoors the Palace, however Johansson is busy filming the film reboot. The Exorcist.
Within the thriller taught by Grey, set in Eighties Brighton Seashore; the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn; and Nice Neck, Lengthy Island, two brothers (Driver and Teller) discover themselves battling Russian gangsters in a quickly reworking metropolis the place high-stakes alternatives for wealth additionally include excessive threat to life and limb. Johansson spends the movie in an unlucky blonde wig and glasses, with a thick Lengthy Island accent, because the spouse of Teller’s unsuspecting suburban father, who unwittingly places a goal on his household’s again.
Johansson, having recovered from the FaceTime debacle, had despatched a notice to Grey to learn at first of the press convention, calling the expertise of working with him and the actors “one of many nice pleasures of my profession.”
Cinema, she continued, in one among many references to the political local weather on the press convention, “has this uncommon and noteworthy energy to attach us to one another by means of shared expertise…That collective empathy is one thing we might undoubtedly use extra of proper now, and I hope that by making movies like this we will really feel, even for just a few hours at the hours of darkness, part of the shared human expertise.”
General, nonetheless, the actors and Grey stayed away from controversies and overt political statements. She was requested for a response to the claims in Lena Dunham’s memoir concerning her unstable conduct on set. WomenDriver responded: “I’ve no touch upon any of that. I am saving all of it for my guide.”
Because the moderator moved on to the subsequent query, Driver added, referring to the reporter: “I don’t know what she’s speaking about.” » Allegations that Driver was verbally aggressive have been the topic of quite a few articles over the previous month.
When requested why he made the movie within the Eighties, Grey cited a visit he took to the “damaged” former Soviet Union in 1984, then seeing how the market grew to become king there and in China quickly after, with what he sees as a devastating impact on human integrity.
“The explanation I set the movie in that point interval is…that was the start of the second the place the market grew to become God,” he mentioned.
“Now, I’m not advocating for socialist dictatorships,” he continued. However, he added, that second has led to our present political local weather and younger folks feeling like failures if they do not have financial success. “What occurs is you get somebody like the present American president, who’s a symptom of what I am speaking about: completely transactional. You already know, ‘How can I take advantage of cash?'”
As for the difficulties encountered on the movie, Teller cited filming in an intense warmth wave in New York, with no shade. “James shot a complete movie within the Amazon and he mentioned it was bodily simply as troublesome,” he mentioned. Driver recollects taking pictures the movie’s greatest scene, a chase scene in a subject of reeds outdoors LaGuardia Airport, throughout a thunderstorm the place they needed to shut down manufacturing each half-hour.
However above all, the actors in contrast the dimensions. The peak, after all. When requested what they considered one another as scene companions, Teller replied, “Effectively, Adam’s greater.”
“I imply, I am a reasonably good peak. I am 6’1″, 190 [pounds.] Often I am the tallest particular person on set,” Teller mentioned. “My hand was very small when Adam shook it.”
The driving force confirmed he was 6 toes 3 inches tall: “Adapting to the doorways is a problem. Adjusting the sneakers is a problem.”
“Keep in mind whenever you virtually despatched me to the hospital?” » requested Teller, in a second nobody would say extra.
The driving force mentioned no and joked that they should not discuss it.
“Okay, I’ve a scar,” Teller mentioned with amusing. And the case was dropped. I suppose it should be entered within the driver’s logbook.