leo woodall stars as Niki in Daniel Roher’s heist film Tuner, and the part puts him at the center of a story built around piano work and safe-cracking. The movie is coming to theaters on May 22, giving the actor a lead role opposite Dustin Hoffman, Tovah Feldshuh and Lior Raz.
May 22 for Tuner
May 22 is the date attached to the theatrical release, and Tuner arrives with the kind of cast that turns a genre title into a wider business play. Woodall’s Niki is a gifted piano tuner whose perfect pitch hearing also helps him quickly open challenging safes, which makes the role a clean fit for a heist film rather than a simple showcase part.
Daniel Roher is directing his first narrative film after the Academy Award-winning documentary Navalny, and that move gives Tuner a different kind of attention than a standard new-release thriller. The film has already been described as getting rave reviews, which raises the profile around a project that is still anchored by the basic theatrical test: whether audiences buy a lead who can move from concert tuning to criminal work.
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Hoffman, Feldshuh, Raz
Dustin Hoffman plays Harry Horowitz, a piano tuner who works with Niki, while Tovah Feldshuh plays Marla, Harry Horowitz’s wife. Lior Raz plays Uri, the criminal who recruits Niki to join his operation as a master safe-cracker, and Jean Reno appears as a famous composer and Holocaust survivor. That lineup gives the film a built-in prestige layer before a ticket is sold.
Woodall said of Hoffman, "He’s on that Mount Rushmore for me" and added, "I tried to be as much of a sponge as I could and soak it all up." He also said, "There were two big lessons: he treats every take like a rehearsal, and also, you think he’s got it all figured out but he does have his doubts and moments."
Woodall’s next move
Woodall said, "That, to me was inspiring: I’m still gonna feel like this in 60 years, but I can figure out ways to cope with it, use it, and manoeuvre it." The line reads like an actor measuring his own ceiling against Hoffman’s working method, and it fits a year in which Woodall is also set to play Jewish American chef Anthony Bourdain in the upcoming Tony.
For viewers, the immediate takeaway is simple: Tuner is not arriving as a bare-bones genre title. It comes with a clear lead role for Woodall, a May 22 theatrical date, and a cast that gives the film more leverage than the average heist release.
