Miles Teller says tragedy off-screen fuelled his on-screen rage

Miles Teller has revealed the devastating loss of his Los Angeles home in last year’s wildfires helped fuel his emotionally charged performance in upcoming crime drama Paper Tiger.

The 39-year-old actor stars in James Gray’s tense new film about two brothers caught in a deadly web involving the Russian mafia, and says real-life heartbreak seeped directly into his role. 

Teller and his wife, Keleigh Sperry, lost their home in the January 2025 Palisades Fire.

Notably, an experience he admits left them shaken and unmoored. 

Around the same time, he also suffered the loss of his grandfather.

Speaking to IndieWire, he explained, “When I met James for this movie, our house had just burned down. 

And I had just lost my grandfather… That infused the story and performance with a lot of love as well, because of that feeling of home that Keleigh and I had lost.”

He described how the emotional impact went far beyond physical possessions. 

“It’s the place where you have memories attached. We did not have that,” he said, adding that the grief naturally “came through” in his performance.

The Top Gun: Maverick star also opened up about an intense on-set moment alongside co-star Adam Driver.

He admitted that his anger in a key scene was visibly real. 

“There was a twitch going on there,” he said, explaining the moment tapped into deeply rooted family emotions and long-standing personal frustrations.

“At least in my own life, your family can get to you in a way that nobody else can,” he reflected, noting how unresolved feelings can build over time before exploding.

The Eternity actor said he was drawn to Paper Tiger because it reflects his current stage of life, praising director James Gray for creating mature, character-driven films. 

The movie, which also stars Scarlett Johansson, has already been tipped for awards attention at Cannes.

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