Adam Driver gamely walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of “Paper Tiger” on Saturday, posing for pictures alongside his co-star Miles Teller and the film’s writer and director James Gray. But as soon as the Lumière Theatre darkened and the film began to play, Driver slipped out of his seat.
“I can’t stand to watch myself,” Driver says. “I have a whole system where I wait until everything is starting and I go through these mazes into a room that overlooks all these boats. And then I sneak back in and try not to be noisy so I can be there as the lights come up.”
It’s a routine that Driver has perfected over several Cannes Film Festival appearances — though he did sit through the 2024 premiere of “Megalopolis” to support its director Francis Ford Coppola. “[His wife] Eleanor had just passed away,” Driver explains.
“Paper Tiger,” in which he plays a former cop turned smooth-talking businessman, who struts around in designer suits like he owns the city, marks his eighth film to debut at the festival. And though Driver seems at ease on screen in his latest, the experience of being observed as you’re observing yourself on screen, hasn’t gotten easier.
“I used to have a couple drinks, just to calm down, but I can’t go overboard because sometimes you come back and you don’t match the mood of a movie,” he admits. “Sometimes people are crying, and you’re like, ‘Hey everybody!'”
