First Look Featurette for James Gray’s ‘Paper Tiger’ 80s NYC Thriller

“It causes a wonderful friction… that meant crisis.” Neon has debuted a new promo featurette for the film Paper Tiger, the latest NYC film written and directed by filmmaker James Gray (We Own the Night, Ad Astra, Armageddon Time). There’s no behind-the-scenes footage in here, but it features Gray describing his intentions with this story. The thriller first premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival playing in the Main Competition, though reviews were quite mixed (here’s mine). The story follows two brothers who pursue a lucrative business opportunity in 1980s Queens (involving the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn), only to find themselves caught up in a dangerous scheme involving the Russian mafia, which ends up terrorizing their suburban family and puts their own sibling bond to the test. Adam Driver stars as Gary Pearl, the older brother and a former cop, now a fixer around the city. Miles Teller co-stars as Irwin, his younger brother. His wife Hester is played by Scarlett Johansson, with Gavin Goudey & Roman Engel as their sons. Also featuring Victor Ptak as Simeon Bogoyavich, an intimidating Russian mob boss who’s involved. Neon is sending this to theaters in November after playing at film festivals all year long. This promo video is about “The Dark Underbelly” of NYC and the story Gray is telling about a family in NYC in the 1980s. Have a look. // Continue Reading ›