(Editor’s Note: This interview was originally published during the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release “Paper Tiger” in theaters on Friday, November 6.)
An actor who debuted at age 22, Miles Teller received rave reviews from the start for his debut performance in “Rabbit Hole,” when he was quickly signed by CAA, followed by “Whiplash” and “The Spectacular Now.” He’s worked steadily since, with everything from arthouse films like “Whiplash” to studio franchises like “Divergent” and “Fantastic Four” to his name. Starring opposite Tom Cruise in the blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” thrust him into the spotlight, but he was still playing Rooster, the son of radar intercept officer Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards).
His latest role in James Gray’s “Paper Tiger,” which received rave reviews at Cannes, sees Teller playing a real adult, Irwin Pearl, a Queens engineer and family man, opposite Scarlett Johansson as his wife Hester, and Adam Driver as Gary, his older brother, a former cop. No longer the on-screen son of a leading man, Teller is now firmly in the role of father. Irwin slowly builds a strong business when his brother offers him a faster path to success. Alas, the naive Irwin takes up the idea and, during an unplanned nighttime reconnaissance, messes up with the Russian mafia, seeing things he shouldn’t see.
I met Teller at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes after the film wowed at its world premiere. He saw him for the first time. We don’t count fake ovations at IndieWire, but I was there and I can guarantee it went well. The dynamic between Driver and Teller is powerful, with Johansson standing in the middle. Although the film did not win an award at Cannes, it will be screened at fall festivals and will compete for awards.
The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Anne Thompson: You have already played the Cannes game.
Miles Teller: I’m one of those actors (where) it’s quite difficult to watch yourself. I still struggle. I was here with Nic (Winding) Refn for this limited series we did (“Too Old to Die Young”); it was my first time in Cannes. I did Cannes with “Maverick”. It really is an overload of the senses.
You never gave this kind of performance Before.
Hopefully your tastes evolve as you age. It struck me that in my first movie, “Rabbit Hole,” I played a wide-eyed teenager, and we shot the majority of that movie in a house in Queens. And now I play the role of the parent.
It was your escape. You revealed strong emotions related to your own car accident. I’m so sorry you lost your home in the Palisades fire.
When I met James for this film, our house had just burned down. And I had just lost my grandfather. We were renting a place in Santa Barbara, and then I got a call saying James wanted to meet with me for this. It also imbued this story and this performance with a lot of love, because of that sense of belonging that Keleigh (Sperry) and I had lost. I had lost it with my grandfather, but also just the physical place where you can bring people together, where you have memories attached. We didn’t have that, so it probably came to fruition.
Do you think you have to grow up a little before you can find your way in Hollywood?
If you want to have a long career, the audience you’ll hopefully attract in their early 20s, as they get older and start having kids or not having kids but just getting more life experience under their belt, you want to reflect that in your choices as well. And James makes adult films, he takes care of characters. I loved every one of his films and always felt like he delivered incredible performances. So I was excited to play a man at that point.
Every actor is going to get to a point where you know it’s difficult because you’re doing something that has some success, and then people want you to keep doing the same thing, whether it’s on the studio side or you keep getting scripts that are that same kind of thing.
What was your box?
When I started with “Rabbit Hole”, and then I wanted to audition for a comedy, they told me “he’s not funny”. And then you’re doing comedies, and you want to go back to drama, and they say, “Willard from ‘Footloose,’ what are you talking about?”
I remember “Bleed for This”. (He gets up to close the blinds to block out the noise from my audio and pours me some water.) It was at a time when I was 27, and I was like, “OK, I want to step in and play, not the funny friend. Playing Vinny Patz, as a five-time world champion boxer, truly a man’s man, absolutely, that was something. But it always comes down to a director, often taking what I consider a chance on me, giving myself a role that I haven’t necessarily shown these abilities before, but I believe I could do it.
You had to direct the television series “The Offer”, in which you played Al Ruddy, who produced “The Godfather”, who deals with the interference between Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans of Paramount and the mafia. It must have been hard.
I was intimidated playing Al, to be honest with you, not just his bravado and his accomplishments, but I felt like I was playing someone who had more life experience than I had at that point, and there was a certain maturity to that. I liked the fact that Al, being a man of action, if he takes one step back, he takes two steps forward. Usually there are five or six different producers doing all these things: it was all Al.
In “Paper Tiger,” there’s a scene between you and Adam Driver where you fight. Your face shook with anger.
I know. I saw that. Yeah, there was a twitch there. At least in my own life, your family can reach you like no one else can. These feelings are so deeply rooted and established from childhood, so I guess at this point neither is fully aware of the ramifications of the Russians, this deal going wrong, and how it affects this person in their life. In this particular scene, you blurt out. It’s not just about what they’re talking about here. It’s a lifetime of doubts: he’s going to let it happen. When this happens to me in my personal life, you feel so bad afterwards. It’s a horrible feeling when you don’t talk to a sibling or your parents, and it’s often difficult to make amends.
How did James Gray base this film on his own father’s experiences?
With his father, it was the biggest regret. He carried it to his deathbed, the fact that he brought this (danger) into his home and his family became collateral damage for his business ambition. (In the film) the adventure he embarked on, going into business with his brother, he made a mistake which was very naive. I think it’s easy to forgive this mistake. When I read this script, I had a ton of empathy for this family in this situation, and then also for what Hester is going through.
Did you have any role models for your character in this film? Your own father was an engineer.
No, he was responsible for project control, but he worked in nuclear power. The men I grew up with, my father and grandfather, were strong men, but very sensitive, dependable and dependable. My grandfather was married to my grandmother for about sixty years. I’ve never seen her open a door. I’ve never seen her carry her own bag. He was a Marine, but he also knew world history well, and he was a gentle man who was never afraid to show that side of him, but he also stood up for himself, or his wife, or his children, whatever it took. He was very proud of it.
I found it refreshing, even comforting, to watch a film about a kind, loving family man who does his job well and is competent. He’s a good father. You haven’t shown that side to such a degree.
I felt so much for this father and husband. It was clear that he loved his children and tried to lead by example and show them that success in life does not depend on what car you drive. He wants to show them that you can build something on your own merits and that if you work hard and treat people well, you can earn it.
These values are no longer as respected as they once were. So if you look at your career, you’ve worked in the studio, like the “Divergent” series. Have you made a course correction? It also comes with maturity, when an actor recognizes what he wants to do rather than doing what people tell him to do.
At first, I didn’t want to feel like I was repeating what I had just done. I didn’t want people to be able to expect what I was going to do next. I always want to advocate for young actors in their careers, because people say, “Oh, why did you make that choice? Why did they make that choice?” You’re just hoping to get a role, and that’s less than 10 percent of SAG people who pay their bills acting alone. We all want to work on the best material with the best directors and the best actors. There is an ebb and flow. Before, I was more critical of the work that others were doing, because you find yourself thrown into this rat race from the start.
Who were you competing with? Who was in your class?
It was me, and Michael B. (Jordan) and (Robert) Pattinson and Shia (LaBeouf) and (Zac) Efron…
Gn entert
