James Gray Says ‘Armageddon Time’ Exposes ‘White Privilege’ in America

EXCLUSIVE: Jeremy Strong (Succession) has revealed to Deadline at the Cannes Film Festival that he’s determined to build time into his schedule so that he can perform on the London stage. “I missed an opportunity to do The Shining for Ivo van Hove, and so next time I have to be ready,” he declared.

CANNES, France -- When the Cannes Film Festival audience stood to applaud James Gray's richly observed autobiographical drama “Armageddon Time," about the director's own 1980s childhood in Queens, Gray's voice quivered as he addressed the crowd.“It’s my story, in a way,” said Gray. “And you guys shared it with me.”“It took every last bit of control not to burst out into tears," Gray said, still recovering the next day in Cannes. “It’s been a really strange journey making the film and my father died two months ago of COVID.

Anne Hathaway is looking so chic for her second appearance at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival!

Clayton Davis James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” a deeply personal look at how the auteur became the auteur we, or at least the French, came to know and love, debuted to warm applause on Thursday. However, the film’s problematic depiction of racial inequalities in the Reagan era may turn off awards voters.

CANNES – James Gray’s new film, “Armageddon Time,” is an autobiographical tale recounting the systematic racism he witness at the age of 12-years-old over four decades ago. His parents are played by Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong, while he’s reimagined as Paul, an artistic dreamer portrayed by Banks Repeta.

TheWrap’s review called the film one of the least nostalgic examples of a form that is almost by definition nostalgic,” and added: “Gray is hard on himself in ‘Armageddon Time’; Paul Graff, the film’s stand-in for the director as a sixth grader, is never cute, unless you want to dote on the angelic curls and ignore the purposefully stubborn personality.

Anne Hathaway is looking incredible on the Cannes red carpet!

James Gray returned to Cannes for the fifth time with what was a personal story inspired by his childhood during 1980s Queens, NY, and the premiere tonight was nothing but emotional.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterAnne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong made the end of the world seem pretty fabulous on Thursday night, hitting the Croisette for the Cannes Film Festival premiere of writer-director James Gray’s “Armageddon Time.”Gray’s semi-autobiographical film about growing up in 1980s Queens stars newcomers Banks Repeta (as the Gray surrogate) and Jaylin Webb (as his best friend). Hathaway and Strong play solid a Jewish couple with dreams of upward mobility.

Kenneth Branagh’s childhood was transformed by the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Mike Mills had very eccentric parents and Cameron Crowe was a teenage rock critic — and we know these things because all three directors have made films that drew upon their own childhoods. And now it’s James Gray’s turn to offer his own look back with “Armageddon Time,” which premiered to a rousing ovation in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.And what does the film tell us about the young Gray? For starters, he was a dreamer, he was a brat, he didn’t understand the privileges he was born into and he went on his own path.

“You can’t ever forget about the past,” Anthony Hopkins says with gentle heed and caution, in a key moment in writer/director James Gray’s intimate new film, “Armageddon Time,” a compassionate movie in perpetual contemplation of our collective accounts, both personally, socially and historically. After venturing out into the jungle (“The Lost City Of Z”), exploring the unfathomable unknowns of deep space (“Ad Astra”) and coming to the same conclusions about the dark heart of human nature, Gray returns to the pavement of his New York City roots for one of his most emotionally honest works regarding the elemental moments of life, love and loss.

Writer-director James Gray has been to the Cannes Film Festival in competition on four previous occasions with We Own the Night, The Yards, The Immigrant, and Two Lovers but has yet to walk away with a prize. Maybe the fifth time will be the charm? It certainly would be deserving as Gray comes back to his beloved New York City roots with the highly autobiographical and intriguingly titled Armageddon Time. 

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticWhen I watch a movie by the writer-director James Gray, I often have the sensation that I’m seeing two films in one: the story being told and the one hovering offscreen — the one that’s all about his aspiration to be something larger than a mere storyteller. Early Gray films like “The Yards” (2000) and “We Own the Night” (2007) were modest tales suffused with his desire to be making “a ’70s movie.” “Ad Astra” (2019) was a lavishly scaled outer-space thriller suffused with his desire to be making “2001: A Space Odyssey.”“Armageddon Time,” Gray’s eighth feature, marks a break from most of what he has done before.

William Earl Variety will partner with Campari to bring the Variety Studio to the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The interview studio will run May 18 – 25 and feature conversations with top directors and stars attending the 75th annual fest.Talent participating in the interview studio includes Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Michael Banks Repeta, Jaylin Webb and writer/director James Gray from “Armageddon Time” (Focus Features), a coming-of-age story about family and the generational pursuit of the American dream; Julianne Moore and Jesse Eisenberg from his feature directorial debut, “When You Finish Saving the World” (A24), a comedy-drama about a mother (Moore) and her teenage son’s (Finn Wolfhard) complex relationship; Paul Mescal and writer-director Charlotte Wells from “Aftersun” (Pastel), an intimate drama following Sophie (Frankie Corio) as she reflects on a holiday she took with her father (Mescal) 20 years earlier; Alicia Vikander and writer-director Olivier Assayas from “Irma Vep” (HBO), a remake of the French silent film classic “Les Vampires”; and writer-director Park Chan-wook, and actors Tang Wei and Park Hae-il from “Decision to Leave” (Mubi), a thriller following a detective’s investigation of a man’s death in the mountains.

Succession star in 2004 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, recalled how Strong moved into her home after Heath Ledger, Williams’ partner and Matilda’s father, died.“Jeremy was serious enough to hold the weight of a child’s broken heart and sensitive enough to understand how to approach her through play and games and silliness,” Williams told Variety.She added: “[Matilda] didn’t grow up with her father, but she grew up with her Jeremy and we were changed by his ability to play as though his life depended upon it, because hers did.”Williams also commented on the 2021 New Yorker profile of Strong in which he discussed method acting, saying it differs from the person she knows.“We’ve all been in awe of his talent,” Williams said. “We’ve watched him work harder than anyone and wait a long time for other people to recognise it.

Heath Ledger. The 41-year-old actress, who shares 16-year-old daughter Matilda with the late actor, reflected on how friend Jeremy Strong stepped up after Ledger died. “Jeremy was serious enough to hold the weight of a child’s broken heart and sensitive enough to understand how to approach her through play and games and silliness,” Williams told about the star moving into her home with her sister, and another friend, after Ledger died in 2008. Williams shared that Strong would let Matilda ride on his back while he pretended to be a pony.“[Matilda] didn’t grow up with her father,” the actress said.

Neon, the Best Picture Oscar-winning studio behind Parasite, has acquired U.S. rights to the psychological thriller Mothers’ Instinct starring Academy Award winners Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNeon, the Oscar-winning studio behind “Parasite,” has acquired U.S. rights to “Mothers’ Instinct,” a psychological thriller starring Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway. It’s a pretty acclaimed group.