James Gray has wrapped the seven-week production on his domestic crime drama “Paper Tiger,” which marks his first feature since 2022’s “Armageddon Time.” The Queens-born auteur appears to be returning to familiar, intimate terrain.
Over the past month, I’ve received several emails asking who the cinematographer might be on this project. The answer has now been revealed: it’s Joaquin Baca-Asay, who hasn’t lensed a film since Gray’s “Two Lovers”—which also happens to be the filmmaker’s very best work—released 17 years ago.
Gray has worked with a handful of DPs over the years: Harris Savides (“The Yards”), Darius Khondji (“The Immigrant,” “Armageddon Time”), and Hoyte Van Hoytema (“Ad Astra”).
Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller, and Adam Driver star in “Paper Tiger,” which centers on two brothers chasing the ever-elusive American Dream. But the dream soon gives way to nightmare, as a seemingly foolproof scheme collapses under the weight of violence, corruption, and the looming shadow of the Russian Mafiya.
As Gray has often done, this is shaping up to be another exploration of familial bonds tested by outside rot—a recurring theme in the director’s work.
Gray, now 56, remains something of a cinematic anomaly. Revered in France, largely underappreciated in the U.S., his work echoes the aesthetic of ’70s cinema—emotionally precise, narratively ambitious, and defiantly unfashionable.
Expect “Paper Tiger” to be ready in time for Cannes 2026, a festival that has practically become his second home (five of his films have premiered there).
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