Adam Driver walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Paper Tiger on Saturday, posed for photographs with co-star Miles Teller and director James Gray, and then slipped out of the theater once the lights went down.
"I can't stand to watch myself," Driver told Variety. "I have a whole system where I wait until everything is starting and I go through these mazes into a room that overlooks all these boats. And then I sneak back in and try not to be noisy so I can be there as the lights come up."
It is a routine Driver has developed over several Cannes appearances. He made one exception, sitting through the 2024 premiere of Megalopolis to support director Francis Ford Coppola. "[His wife] Eleanor had just passed away," Driver explained.
Paper Tiger marks Driver's eighth film to debut at Cannes. He plays a former cop turned smooth-talking businessman. Reviews after the opening night screening were strong, with one critic calling it Driver's career-best performance and others praising Gray's blend of crime thriller and family drama.
Driver told Variety he used to manage his nerves at screenings differently. "I used to have a couple drinks, just to calm down, but I can't go overboard because sometimes you come back and you don't match the mood of a movie," he said. "Sometimes people are crying, and you're like, 'Hey everybody!'"
The day after the premiere, Driver and Gray sat together in a small room at the Carlton Hotel. Gray was open about why he wanted Driver for the role.
"I love Adam Driver!" Gray said. "I wrote this part for him. It's very uncommon to find an actor who can convey vulnerability and danger. These are the two most valuable commodities for a director. I can only think of one performance in the history of movies where there's no danger, and it's great. And that's Jeff Bridges as the Dude in 'Big Lebowski.' Everything else has kind of an undercurrent of menace."
Driver said he came to the project as a fan of Gray's New York-set films, having watched his work on the Criterion Channel, including We Own the Night, Two Lovers, and The Yards. The two met frequently at Driver's New York home before production began to develop the script.
"If I don't understand a part, then it's hard to play it," Driver said. "And the biggest enemy on a film is time. We had official rehearsals, but whatever you can do in advance to drill down into the characters is so important, so then you don't waste time on set having debates about everything."
Paper Tiger is competing at Cannes 2026.
