James Gray's Paper Tiger received a ten-minute standing ovation at the Grand Théâtre Lumière following its world premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday — making it Gray's sixth time in competition on the Croisette.
The film stars Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller. Critics filed their takes within hours of the credits rolling, with early notices collected by Deadline characterizing the reception as broadly favorable, though the full critical picture remains uneven at the edges, as is customary for anything that earns the word “prestige” before the reviews are in.
Gray's Cannes record includes The Yards (2000), We Own the Night (2007), Two Lovers (2008), The Immigrant (2013), and Ad Astra (2019) — a filmography that has reliably generated the kind of reverence best expressed by grown adults sustaining applause for ten consecutive minutes in a darkened auditorium on the French Riviera.
No U.S. distributor announcement accompanied the premiere.