Miles Teller Opens Up About 'Paper Tiger,' Adam Driver, and Losing His Home Before Filming James Gray's Movie

Miles Teller began acting at 22 and received strong early reviews for Rabbit Hole, leading to rapid representation and subsequent roles in Whiplash and The Spectacular Now. He continued steadily across auteur projects and major studio franchises, including Divergent and The Fantastic Four, and gained wider attention playing Rooster opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick. In Paper Tiger, which earned acclaim at Cannes, Teller plays Irwin Pearl, a Queens engineer and family man married to Scarlett Johansson’s Hester, with Adam Driver as his older brother Gary, a former cop. Irwin builds a business slowly, but chooses a faster path and, during an unscheduled reconnaissance, makes a fatal mistake involving the Russian mafia.

"Miles Teller earned rave reviews out of the gate for his debut performance in "Rabbit Hole," when he was signed swiftly by CAA, followed by "Whiplash" and "The Spectacular Now." He has worked steadily ever since, with everything from auteur fare like "Whiplash" and studio franchises such as "Divergent" and "The Fantastic Four" to his name. Holding his own opposite Tom Cruise in the blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick" pushed him into the limelight, 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 earned raves at Cannes, sees Teller play a real grown-up, 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 onscreen son of a leading man, Teller is now firmly in father roles. Irwin is slowly building a solid business when his brother offers a quicker route to success. Alas, the naive Irwin goes for the idea and, during an unscheduled night reconnaissance, blunders with the Russian mafia, seeing things he should not see."

"I sat down with Teller at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes after the movie wowed in its world premiere. He was seeing it for the first time. We do not count fake standing ovations at IndieWire, but I was there and can vouch that it played well. The dynamic between Adam Driver and Miles Teller is powerful, with Scarlett Johansson holding her own in the middle. The movie could land a Cannes prize, which could push it into awards contention in the fall."

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