James Gray’s Streaming Beef Is Just the Pause Button — SkimNews
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- James Gray wrote Paper Tiger with Adam Driver in mind, casting the Oscar nominee as a former police officer who links up with the red mafia in the 1980s; Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson also star.
- Paper Tiger sends Gray back to his Queens roots and again places the shadow of the Russian mafia over a family, echoing Little Odessa more than 30 years after his 1994 debut feature.
- Cannes in 2009 supplies Gray’s recurring filmmaker nightmare: from the jury, he heard spring-activated seats make a loud “tack” as audiences left in droves, leaving the movie about half full before people began booing.
- Isabelle Huppert presided over the 2009 Cannes jury Gray served on; Enter the Void and Antichrist were in that year’s competition, and Gray said rumors of fractious deliberations were false and that he had no feud with Huppert.
- James Gray said his only real beef with streaming is the pause button, because a director’s job is to keep viewers awake and riveted for 90 minutes, two hours or even three; he said Netflix or Peacock makes no difference because most people watch at home.
- Vertigo provides Gray’s test case: he disliked its first half but argues that a film experienced in one sitting is more rewarding, noting that REM sleep lasts 90 minutes to two hours, roughly a movie’s runtime.
- James Gray said almost all great performances need some danger, calling Driver a “fantastic, intense presence” and nominating Jeff Bridges’ The Dude in The Big Lebowski as the likely exception.
Why it matters: Gray’s target is not Netflix or Peacock themselves but the pause button: with audiences now watching mostly at home, filmmakers must sustain attention across a 90-minute-to-three-hour runtime. His Cannes 2009 memory of a screening that ended half full amid boos makes the stakes concrete—audience engagement is judged in real time.
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