How Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller Built a Family in ‘Paper Tiger’

James Gray’s latest autobiographical film, set in a crime-ridden ’80s New York, centers on what one of its stars jokingly calls “a throuple.”

The dramatic thriller “Paper Tiger” stars Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson as family members torn asunder by a terrifying experience with the Russian mob. It’s set in 1986 New York, where a business deal involving Brooklyn’s polluted Gowanus Canal quickly goes wrong.

There are shootouts and car chases, but the cinematic tension is equally driven by relationships. Driver and Teller play brothers; Driver’s character is a charismatic, wealthy ex-cop, and Teller’s is a mild-mannered engineer, who lives in Queens with his wife (Johannsson) and two teenage sons.

The film, in theaters, was written and directed by James Gray (“Ad Astra,” “We Own the Night”), with many autobiographical elements. The castmates gravitated to his work because of how finely tuned it is, they said.

“The scripts are crafted with a lot of nuance,” Driver said, “and there’s a lot of things to play — which is rare, and what I thought was going to be more of what movies were.”

He and Johansson were both nominated for Oscars for their portrayal of a disintegrating couple in “Marriage Story” (2019); they share the screen with Teller for the first time.

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