In 2023, filmmaker Daniel Roher, at simply 29, accepted an Oscar for his documentary Navalny. He’d seemingly punched his ticket for the remainder of his profession, however then he unexpectedly discovered himself in a paralyzing artistic standstill.
The Canadian writer-director felt a corresponding anxiousness that made him ponder the terrifying query of whether or not he’d be ever in a position to create once more. Luckily, an introduction to Los Angeles-based piano tuner, Peter White, acquired the ball rolling on what would change into Tuner, Roher’s narrative characteristic debut. He shadowed White all through his day-to-day, and that have, mixed together with his lingering self-doubt, resulted within the character of Niki White.
Niki, who’s portrayed by The White Lotus season two breakout Leo Woodall, is a extremely expert and intuitive piano tuner who serves as the precise hand and protégé to Dustin Hoffman’s Harry Horowitz. Niki’s once-promising future as a virtuoso pianist was abruptly minimize brief when he was stricken with hyperacusis, a uncommon listening to dysfunction that makes one extremely delicate to on a regular basis sounds. He manages his situation based mostly on the atmosphere round him, alternating between earplugs and over-ear headphones as wanted. However he not performs or composes music, refusing even probably the most casual of requests.
When Harry’s well being and subsequent monetary scenario take a flip for the more severe, Niki turns into determined to guard his father determine’s well-being, residence and enterprise. Throughout a late-night tuning job, he occurs to cross paths with a gaggle of noisy safety contractors who moonlight as thieves. Noticing that they’re struggling to crack a protected, Niki presents to make use of his auditory illness to their benefit. After efficiently opening the strongbox and being compensated for it, he finally falls in with stated crooks, turning Tuner right into a cross between Good Will Searching and Michael Mann’s Thief.
Roher shot his yard of Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the movie’s setting of New York Metropolis, however at a sure level in improvement, he obtained a observe to contemplate relocating the story to Toronto. That’s when he needed to remind the person who his native nation would fully undermine Niki’s main motivation to change into a safecracking thief.
“At one point, someone was like, ‘Why don’t you just set Tuner in Toronto?” And I used to be like, ‘We have universal healthcare. There’d be no story!’” Roher tells The Hollywood Reporter. “The good thing about the incredible ineptitude and stupidity of the American healthcare system is that it can be a good foil for dramatic narratives.”
Having directed or co-directed 4 feature-length docs, together with 2026’s The AI Doc: Or How I Grew to become an Apocaloptimist, Roher’s historical past of capturing unplanned moments served him effectively in a single explicit space. “Every single day Dustin Hoffman was on set, my documentarian brain came in handy because Dustin improvised a lot, in-character, as Harry,” Roher says.
Total, certainly one of Roher’s greatest hang-ups going into his first narrative movie was whether or not he’d have the ability to successfully talk what his actors wanted to listen to. He helped his case by casting effectively, as Woodall and Hoffman are joined by the likes of Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno, Lior Raz and rising star Havana Rose Liu. Fortunately, his main man gave him no trigger for concern.
“Leo is just like a Swiss watch as an actor. He showed up with the character fully formed,” Roher says. “It seemed like my job was to just get out of his way and let him do his thing. I maybe gave him two or three notes over the course of the entire shooting process. He’s such a phenom.”
Beneath, throughout a dialog with THR, Roher additionally discusses how he and his Oscar-winning sound designer Johnnie Burn put the viewers inside the attitude of somebody with hyperacusis. Then he seems forward to his subsequent characteristic, Positano, a romantic caper starring Matthew McConaughey and Zoe Saldaña.
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The thought of containing multitudes definitely applies to you and your movies. Your documentaries have been already fairly diversified, however now you’ve thrown a fictional crime thriller known as Tuner into the combo. How do you make sense of your eclectic filmography?
I’m an eclectic man with eclectic tastes. I don’t need to be pigeonholed. I need to make every kind of flicks: documentaries, fiction movies, huge movies, small movies, movies everybody on this planet will see, movies no one on this planet will see and every thing in between. That’s what actually excites me.
To place it mildly, documenting actuality within the 2020s doesn’t look like probably the most nice expertise. Did that issue into your pivot to fiction in any respect?
I’m wondering when documenting actuality was ever a pleasing expertise. My pivot to fiction was predicated on my pursuits, not on nonfiction in and of itself. I nonetheless actually love nonfiction, however I used to be simply all in favour of exploring various kinds of creation and creativity.
Leo Woodall as Niki White in Tuner
Courtesy of Black Bear
To heart against the law thriller round a piano tuner is a really particular alternative. How did you and your co-writer (Robert Ramsey) arrive at your unconventional protagonist (Leo Woodall’s Niki White)?
Peter White, who’s the husband of my spouse’s buddy Michelle, is a piano tuner in Los Angeles. I met Peter socially by our wives, and his work actually impressed me and this film. I shadowed him for a time, observing what his expertise was like going to those grand homes and tuning pianos, which knowledgeable the beginning of the movie considerably.
Niki is such an attention-grabbing protagonist as a result of he’s quiet, exact and virtually emotionally sealed, but the movie by no means feels chilly. Leo is rather like a Swiss watch as an actor. He confirmed up with the character totally fashioned and his selections already made. He had a really clear understanding of how he wished Niki to be, how he wished him to really feel and the way he wished him to sound. So it appeared like my job was to only get out of his method and let him do his factor. I possibly gave him two or three notes over the course of your complete taking pictures course of. He’s such a phenom.
When it comes to the character archetype, did Good Will Searching come up loads all through the writing course of?
Sure, I really like that film. It’s certainly one of my favorites.
My dad may be very onerous of listening to; he additionally has hyperacusis. Thus, a number of of the conversations on this movie felt eerily just like ones we now have commonly. Do you may have somebody in your individual life whose listening to loss served as an correct reference?
No, however before everything, it was actually necessary for Leo and me to hunt session from people who really endure from hyperacusis. We each talked to folks to essentially perceive what this situation is, the way it impacts their lives and the way socially and emotionally alienating it may be. Getting a greater sense of what these folks navigate and undergo was instrumental for us in portraying this situation with thoughtfulness and truthfulness.
Dustin Hoffman and director Daniel Roher on set of Tuner
Alan Markfield/Courtesy of Black Bear
Dustin Hoffman hasn’t achieved an excessive amount of performing lately. How difficult or uncomplicated was his casting?
It wasn’t difficult as a result of he actually cherished the fabric and wished to do the film. It was a type of issues that was sort of meant to be. Once I despatched him the script, I didn’t notice that he wished to be a jazz pianist when he was a child, and so his casting had this type of “beshert” high quality — the Yiddish phrase for “meant to be.” It’s one thing that’s usually attributed to romantic love, your one and solely, so Dustin is my one and solely.
Was the Rain Man reference already within the script? Or did you add it after Dustin joined the fold?
It wasn’t initially within the script. It was added as a nod to Dustin.
The failings of the American well being care system are used to inspire your protagonist’s foray into crime. As a Canadian, was it all the time tough so that you can reconcile this story level?
Yeah, at one level, somebody was like, “Why don’t you just set Tuner in Toronto?” And I used to be like, “We have universal healthcare. There’d be no story!” The benefit of the unbelievable ineptitude and stupidity of the American healthcare system is that it may be an excellent foil for dramatic narratives.
What day on the Tuner set did the documentarian facet of you come in useful? Conversely, what was the largest adjustment you needed to make as a story director?
Each single day Dustin Hoffman was on set, my documentarian mind got here in helpful as a result of Dustin improvised loads, in-character, as Harry. So far as the largest adjustment, working with actors actually freaked me out firstly, however then I acquired used to it. So I perceive them higher now, and I’ve a brand new appreciation for the esoteric, bizarre, ethereal artwork type of performing.
Dustin Hoffman’s Harry Horowitz and Leo Woodall’s Niki White in Daniel Roher’s Tuner.
Toronto Movie Pageant
Being an unbiased movie with minimal time, how a lot did you ask of your actors, piano-wise?
So much. Leo and Havana [Rose Liu] skilled a number of occasions every week, they usually labored actually onerous. That they had a piano instructor in Toronto known as Eve Egoyan, and he or she’s a beautiful pianist and educator in Toronto. Havana performed piano up till center college, however hadn’t picked it up shortly. And Leo by no means had any actual expertise, so each of them took many, many classes to have the ability to land these scenes.
The sound design is de facto well-calibrated. It made me wince at any time when Niki endured acute noise. Did your sound mixer principally flip the dials up so far as they may go?
Yeah, Johnnie Burn is a genius sound mixer, and when he agreed to do the film, it was an enormous day for me. [Writer’s Note: Burn won an Oscar for The Zone of Interest.] He all the time likes to say, “You can close your eyes, but you can’t close your ears.” So we actually wished to discover and lean into an adventurous sound combine. It’s the standard of the movie that actually makes it distinctive.
We truthfully didn’t know what Niki’s world would sound like at first. It’s advanced. It’s not as easy as if he was shedding his listening to. He has his listening to, however there’s tinnitus and a ache index that comes with it. He has to put on these earmuffs that change on a regular basis sound, so there was loads for us to barter and navigate. It was solely by trial and error that Johnnie and I have been capable of finding the cadences of the sounds in Niki’s world.
To talk obliquely concerning the ultimate scene, do you contemplate what transpires to be a one-off? Or is the unique promise about to be fulfilled going ahead?
I don’t know! That’s for the viewers’s interpretation.
You’re at the moment in Italy on your subsequent movie, Positano. It’s described as a romantic caper. The place does it match into the sooner speak about your physique of labor?
It’s the largest undertaking I’ve ever achieved. It has the largest canvas, the largest set items, the largest motion sequences, the largest every thing. I’ve by no means made a fiction movie abroad the place I don’t communicate the language, in order that’s all been actually enjoyable. On the finish of the day, it matches into my physique of labor as a result of what I’m actually all in favour of creatively and intellectually is making something that may take me exterior of my consolation zone — and this one definitely does that. The size and scope, the scale of manufacturing, and the stress and stress are immense, however it’s riveting. And attending to work with Matthew McConaughey and Zoe Saldaña has been extraordinary. They’re instructing me a lot.
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Tuner opens in restricted theaters on Could 22, earlier than increasing nationwide on Could 29.
