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Dustin Hoffman tells PEOPLE he feels he and his Tuner costar Leo Woodall “knew the same dirty jokes and got on well” after meeting for the new movie
The two-time Oscar winner and Woodall portray a master piano tuner and his apprentice in the new movie
Tuner is in limited theaters May 22 and nationwide May 29
Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall‘s new movie Tuner marks something of a passing of the torch, right down to the friendship the two men developed while making the movie.
Woodall, 29, stars as an apprentice named Niki to Hoffman’s piano tuner Harry in Tuner, in limited theaters May 22. The movie’s story goes awry when Niki, who struggles with a condition called hyperacusis that makes his hearing ultra-sensitive to noise, grows entangled with a group of criminals after they discover his condition makes him excellent at cracking safes in wealthy people’s homes.
In real life, Hoffman is a two-time Oscar winner and screen legend, while Woodall’s star is still rising. “Well, what surprised me is I thought he was American, and suddenly I hear that he’s British and I thought, ‘That’s the best American accent I’ve ever heard,’ ” Hoffman, 88, tells PEOPLE, when asked what he makes of Woodall’s road to fame in recent years.
“I don’t know which one you’re using today,” he cracks to Woodall, seated beside him. His costar laughs. “But we got on immediately, knew the same dirty jokes and got on very well,” Hoffman adds. “Similar personality, in a way.”
Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman in Tuner
Credit: Courtesy of Black Bear
In Tuner, Niki indulges in his talent for cracking safes in order to make money to support Harry and his wife after a medical crisis lands the master piano tuner in the hospital.
“I did get sort of the butterflies and I think we’d been shooting for two weeks before Dusty came in,” Woodall recalls. “And then that first day of his, I thought, all my nerves were gone because all the first day jitters were gone, but then I think it really mattered to me to do my best with him and to make sure that we had a lot of fun doing it.”
“The first two weeks he purposefully didn’t do his best,” Hoffman jests. “I set the bar very low so that I had somewhere to go,” Woodall adds, with a laugh.
Dustin Hoffman and ‘Tuner’ director Daniel Roher on the movie’s set
Credit: Alan Markfield; Courtesy of Black Bear
The movie also required Woodall and his costar Havana Rose Liu to undertake “months of piano training” in order to perform at the keys live during filming.
“I was very nervous because I think the pressure was high, but also I think if I couldn’t [do it], and I think Havana felt the same, and be convincing, that would’ve really burst the bubble,” Woodall says.
“Which I think you guys were,” Hoffman adds.
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Tuner is in limited theaters May 22 and nationwide May 29.
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