Leo Woodall is playing a piano tuner in his latest indie film

2 September 2025, 16:45

The White Lotus star plays a piano tuner turned criminal.

Leo Woodall has joined Dustin Hoffman to play two piano tuners in Daniel Roher’s new film, Tuner.

In the film, the Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and One Day star plays Hoffman’s apprentice. Both characters have auditory problems: Hoffman’s character Harry Horowitz is losing his hearing and Woodall’s character, Niki, lives with hyperacusis, a condition where everyday sounds seem much louder to you than they should, which means he must wear earplugs at all times.

Niki’s condition has ruined his prospects for a musical career, but because his hearing becomes so acute, it makes him a fantastic piano tuner: the role requires hyper accurate, pitch-perfect ability.

Read more: Musician trolls piano tuner by swapping his piano strings with guitar strings

His uncanny ear leads him into unexpected territory when it’s discovered that his pitch-perfect skills can also be used to crack safes by listening to their mechanisms. As financial pressure mounts and a romantic subplot unfolds with a mysterious concert pianist (played by CODA star Emilia Jones), Niki finds himself drawn into a criminal underworld where grand pianos aren’t the only things being opened.

Piano tuners are highly skilled technicians who adjust the tension of each of a piano’s strings to ensure the instrument is in perfect pitch. Using a tuning lever, mutes, and their finely trained ears or sometimes digital tuning devices they work string by string to bring harmony to the entire keyboard, often relying on both mechanical precision and musical intuition.

Read more: This 19-foot piano has the longest bass strings in the world – and it sounds huge

Tuner has been described as a cosy crime-thriller mixed with romcom, directed by Navalny’s Daniel Roher. The film reportedly has a unique sound design to immerse the audience in Niki’s aural world, where the ticking of a clock or the flick of a light switch becomes almost deafening.

Set against the backdrop of London’s faded music halls and sleek criminal enclaves, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 30 August, with a UK release expected in early 2026.