Tuner is Leo Woodall’s first leading movie role—and something of a pivot. Known for playing men defined by their inscrutability—Jack in The White Lotus; the boyish object of Rachel Weisz’s desire in Vladimir—he’s still guarded here, but newly exposed.

As Niki the piano tuner, his vulnerability is right on the surface: he’s afflicted with hyperacusis, an extreme sensitivity to sound that renders ordinary noise physically unbearable, turning even the prospect of human connection into a source of strain. But when he stumbles upon a crew of contractors trying to crack a safe in a client’s Long Island mansion, his condition becomes an unlikely (and criminal) gift: his hearing is so acute he can detect the tumblers falling into place. Before long, safecracking becomes his new line of work, especially after his mentor Harry (Dustin Hoffman) falls ill—but a new romance with Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a piano composition student, complicates everything further.

Drawing a warm response at both Sundance and TIFF, Tuner is the kind of movie people don’t make enough of anymore: fun, romantic, suspenseful, and built for everyone. We sat down with Woodall to talk craft, Dustin Hoffman, and dead fish.

Vogue: A piano-tuning romantic heist movie is not something I ever thought I’d see. What was your initial reaction to the script? What drew you in?

Leo Woodall: It was just a film I read and immediately wanted to watch, and that’s always an important component for me—whether I actually want to see this thing. It’s the kind of film I love.

In the movie, Niki describes hyperacusis as an allergy rather than a disorder, which I found interesting.

It was always Daniel [Roher, the director’s] phrase, that Niki’s allergic to loud noises. Honestly, I didn’t think too much about that specific word. I think what mattered was grasping what the condition actually was without leaning on exposition, without Niki explaining it to Ruthie in a way he never would in a real conversation.

The character’s relationship to sound is so physical. Are there any musicians or artists you’re deeply connected to that would trigger that kind of response in you?

There’s no artist I listen to that makes me need to cover my ears and block everything out [laughs]. But one of the first inspirations for Daniel making this film was the idea that if you had a passion, a talent, something that felt core to your identity, and it was taken away from you, who would you be?

Would that something be acting for you? Are you as obsessed with it as Niki is with music?

I definitely wouldn’t put myself in the same category of talent as Niki at the piano, but with acting as my passion, that is the question I ask myself. And not just acting: films in general. If you love cinema and you imagine tomorrow there’s just... no more movies, what would that do to you? It would screw me up.

Seeing you now, I’m assuming all the tattoos you had were just for the film. One of them is a fish that also appears in the title card. Is there a story behind that one?

There were a few—a watermelon, a little red devil. Honestly, a lot of it just came down to what we thought looked cool or made us laugh. None of them lives with me in real life. Daniel and I both loved the fish—it’s actually a dead fish, because of the way it sits on my hand, upside down. I think we liked the idea of that: Niki tunes pianos for a living… it’s not what he dreamed of. So he’s got a little tuna on his hand, and it’s dead. I think that was some subliminal messaging Danny wanted to sneak in.

The dead fish actually comes up in that van scene with Dustin Hoffman’s character — he’s going on about tuna and mercury. I heard a lot of that was improvised.

Yeah, that whole tuna-mercury thing was born out of improvisation, out of Dustin. It was this 10-minute sequence that got cut down to whatever’s in the film, but he just tells these stories that you don’t think are going anywhere, then they have a full-circle button. He’s a master of his craft, and I got to witness it firsthand. I’m not unaware of how lucky I am to be able to say that.

What surprised you most about working with him?

Many things surprised me, but I think what moved me most was how much care and passion he still has for it. He was 87 when we filmed, and there’s this contradiction. It seemed to come so easily to him, which didn’t surprise me, but knowing that someone as gifted and experienced as him could still have moments of self-doubt was a profound lesson for me as a young man. It meant I didn’t have to feel like I needed to have it all figured out. A lot of young people feel that pressure, and here’s this great man showing you that maybe that [uncertainty] never fully goes away—and that’s okay.

Niki has this savant quality that’s hard not to read against Rain Man—especially with Dustin right there. Was that reference ever explicitly in the room, with him or with Daniel?

I think it was, yeah—probably more with Daniel and Dustin. The scene where Havana plays the chords and he [Niki] calls them off, that was the closest I ever felt to it.

Who’s the better piano player, you or Havana?

Definitely Havana. She was a better pianist going in and coming out.

Did you take lessons together at all?

Mostly separate, though we did have some joint lessons. Thankfully, not too many. She was better than me, and it would’ve been disheartening to be reminded of that every session.

When I was talking to someone who had seen the film and I told them I was interviewing you, they had no idea you were British.

I thought you were going to say they had no idea who I was!

No—they thought you were a New Yorker. I also thought you were very naturally New York. What do you credit that to?

I’d been fortunate enough to have spent a decent amount of time in New York before this. I had a baseline, but I wanted to be more specific, so we went to Brooklyn. There were a couple of small things, which don’t apply to everyone from Brooklyn, obviously, but I thought it’d be fun to incorporate. Like saying “Haaaarry” instead of “Hairy.” Tiny things that just differentiated it a little.

We never get to see Niki in his home life in the film. What does this guy do when the day is done, when he’s finished tuning pianos or picking locks? He reads to me as a very old-school, pre-internet kind of guy. A loner.

That’s one of the sad things about playing Niki—but also one of the reasons I wanted to play him. He’s forced into a kind of limited life. His condition narrows what he can do even in solitude. What a life looks like outside the script always informs you when you’re playing a character. But for Niki, it was so specific and so unique that I thought about it a lot and to a greater degree than I might otherwise.

Can you give me a detail from that backstory you built for him?

I imagined him being far more well-read than anyone would think. You do get a glimpse of him in his den, smoking endless cigarettes, trying to crack the safe, but I liked the idea that he finds some peace in solitude through reading. One of my favorite films of all time is Good Will Hunting, and there’s that quality to Will: he can just go home and read six books. I liked the idea that Niki has that.

He moves through some pretty distinct groups in this film: Israeli security contractors and Korean gangsters. You’re playing the “straight man,” the dramatic anchor, while the comedy happens around you. What was the energy like in those bigger ensemble moments? I imagine it being a rowdy and funny set with someone like Johnnie Park.

I loved working with them. We’d already shot numerous scenes with just Lior [Raz], Gil [Cohen], and Nissan [Sakira], but doing that sequence was incredibly fun—especially for me, because I got to slightly step back and just watch them come up with new things every take. They’re really good actors and genuinely funny people. The two of them [Park and Rek Lee] already had a great dynamic, but when you threw in the full group, it was just magic. So much of the humor came through the tension between them.

Since I asked about the piano playing, I feel like I should ask if you can crack a safe. Was there research or training involved in that, too?

It wasn’t as extensive; it’s a bit less technical than piano. You can go on YouTube and learn how to crack safes. I haven’t managed a proper one yet, but I do remember, as a kid, having this little lunchbox where I kept my pocket money, with a tiny padlock on it—the kind you could probably just chew through. For fun, I took apart a paperclip, made the little scissor shape, and tried it because I’d seen it in some film. And it actually worked. That feeling was so electric—but I wouldn’t recommend it. Let’s not all go around learning how to crack safes.

This conversation has been edited and condensed. Tuner is in limited theaters from May 22.