Daniel Roher, the Oscar-winning director behind Navalny, shifts into fiction with Tuner, a stylish romantic thriller set in New York’s music world. After captivating fall festival audiences, the film now makes its theatrical debut.
Woodall plays Niki, a gifted piano tuner who wrestles with a tinnitus-like condition that heightens his sensitivity to sound. He becomes entangled with a crew of thieves and finds unexpected love with a rising pianist played by Havana Rose Liu.
Dustin Hoffman co-stars as Niki’s longtime boss, Harry, a figure whose presence sharpens the suspense and gives Woodall room to improvise. The production benefits from Johnnie Burn’s acclaimed sound design, which translates the protagonist’s auditory challenges into the film’s sonic texture.
Roher’s leap into scripted storytelling followed his Oscar triumph. He drafted a lengthy treatment that resembled a play and then collaborated with screenwriter Rob Ramsey to shape momentum and rhythm. He recalls wanting the film to move with a certain cadence, a quality that keeps audiences edge-of-seat without leaning on expositional scenes.
Originating in Los Angeles, the project found a new home in New York after backers suggested the switch. A Black Bear-backed package secured a $7 million budget and greenlit the project after Roher storyboarded extensive scenes.
In casting, Roher sought a contrast between Hoffman’s old-school gravitas and Woodall’s charismatic immediacy. The actor-shuffled dynamic gives the film its tonal balance, with Woodall conveying a mix of charm and inner ache that anchors the story.
The soundscape is central to Tuner. As Niki grapples with the world’s noise, muffled hearing and selective audibility guide every decision. The film leans into the tension between a musician’s precision and the peril of criminal risk, using sound as a storytelling engine.
Looking ahead, Roher has begun work on Netflix’s Positano in Italy, reuniting with collaboration partners for a high-stakes jewel-heist narrative that pairs Matthew McConaughey with Zoe Saldana.
Roher’s aim is lean, taut cinema that balances romance, humor, and danger without wasting a moment. He treats audiences as a privilege and as the measure of his craft, seeking to deliver an experience that feels both thrilling and emotionally grounded.
Source: Original article
