Havana Rose Liu is one of the buzziest young actors working in Hollywood today. Following her star-making turn in 2023’s “Bottoms,” she cemented her status as an artist with roles in TV shows like “Hal & Harper,” movies like “Lurker,” and even her Off-Broadway debut in 2025’s “All Nighter.” She’s also been cast in A24’s highly-anticipated adaptation of the hit video game, “Elden Ring,” written and directed by Alex Garland.
But before that, she’s co-starring alongside Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman in “Tuner.” The film is directed and co-written by Daniel Roher, the acclaimed, Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker. “Tuner” marks his feature film debut. Woodall stars as a piano tuner with a unique hearing condition that proves useful when it comes to cracking safes for a gang of robbers. While crime is profitable, it comes at the expense of his budding relationship with conservatory student Ruthie, played by Liu.
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“Tuner” succeeds as a crime film by boiling and distilling its drama into into its rawest, most base form. It’s not a documentary, nor does it attempt to imitate the style of one, but it does present its heightened premise with a level of grounded realism and immediate emotion that carries the viewer along with an unexpected momentum. And if you have a particular fondness for jazz music and the art of live performance, then all the better.
I had the opportunity to chat with Havana Rose Liu about her work on “Tuner” and her larger career. She talks about the wild ride of her career thus far, as well as how testing her mettle in the realm of theater helped to (somewhat) alleviate the imposter syndrome that plagues so many talented young stars. Read the transcript of our conversation below. “Tuner” is out now in limited release and expands to theaters nationwide next week, May 29.
Zak Wojnar, Newsweek: How was your piano playing before and how is it now?
Havana Rose Liu: Before the film and before prep, I had only played until I was in middle school. On a rating of one to ten, I would say I was at a one-point-five to two. And now, today, I would say I’m almost up to a four. Because I worked really, really intensely in order to prep for the film. And then as soon as the film was over and I completed my five songs, I took a break and that break has very unfortunately extended up to now. But I’ve really felt very upset about that in the past few days. I already reached out to someone about starting piano lessons again when I go home. I’m just pissed about it because it’s not like riding a bike. It takes reps and I need to keep them up.
Yeah, I mean, I’m a ‘three out of ten’ drummer, so I know how hard it is to get up to the ‘four.’
Havana Rose Liu: Really tough! Those numbers, it’s a climb to each number.
This is Daniel’s first feature, your director. So far, he’s been a documentary guy. I’m curious about that switch. Did he know how to work with actors?
Havana Rose Liu: I don’t know what it is to know how to work with actors, honestly. But I think he did an incredible job of wrangling us. I think he has his own unique style that is informed by documentary filmmaking that I think has made the process very special. I’ve almost never felt that much autonomy over a character and process. We were able to improvise. We were able to make notes to where we think the character might have some humor. But there was a lot of freedom to sort of build with him. And I think that was due to the fact that he just wanted us to be alive as people and as characters, and then he would capture that. It put more of a challenge on our back to really hold the character. But I also felt like it made us all six times more passionate and driven each day to keep discovering new things.
So is there a lot of the mentality of “Keep it rolling?” It’s very cinematic, but it also has this very matter of fact, slice of life vibe to it, even during the exciting sequences.
Havana Rose Liu: Yeah, I agree. It bridges those two worlds very interestingly. It’s somehow, like, one centimeter into fantasy. There’s these plot points that exist just one tiny layer above reality. It is a ‘capital M Movie,’ or a ‘capital F Film.” But I think it is also somehow really natural and intimate and tender and lived in. And I think he somehow bridged those two worlds in a very powerful way.
I want to talk about you. You’re having a… Do you get annoyed when people say, “oh my God, you’re having such a moment right now?”
Havana Rose Liu: I don’t know, a ‘moment’ is an interesting term. It is an interesting term. I don’t get annoyed, but I am like, what does that even mean?
I get the impression looking at your resume and reading about you and seeing other interviews, I feel like if I asked you several years ago, you wouldn’t have wanted to be Meryl Streep.You would have wanted to be Kate Moss, right?
Havana Rose Liu: (Laughs) I feel like I probably would have wanted to be Yoko Ono.
Okay, all right! I love her! Tell me a little bit about that trajectory of your career and being a model and then all of a sudden being in some of the most critically acclaimed movies of the last five years with more to come.
Havana Rose Liu: Yeah, it’s been such a strange and sort of bumbling trajectory, but I find that there’s a deep-seeded connection, almost like a crazed, obsessive love I have for this thing now. It has honestly been there since the first minute I started, but I think I felt so unknowledgeable and incapable in the very beginning, in a way that made me feel a ton of imposter syndrome about it all. More and more, I’m not focused on the label of it. I’m not focused on it being a life path I’ve chosen, or all of these ways you can think about your story. I feel more like I’ve really settled into how much I adore this craft and I adore the people who work in this field. And I love movies and I love filmmaking and I love acting and I love directors and I love all the pizzazz and chaos of filming. And I love when people get to share in the pizzazz and chaos of that. When it gets released, it’s like birthing a baby, all of us together. It’s just the most mind-blowing and cool job I could ever have, I think. So I’m just happy to be here.
So I would say you’re not living the dream necessarily that you had way back when, but you’re still living a dream.
Havana Rose Liu: I’m totally living a dream.
You’re living a dream and you’re like, oh, I love it.
Havana Rose Liu: And right now it’s fu*king mine!
It’s not like, all right, nine to five. I guess this part is the nine to five!
Havana Rose Liu: No, no. No, I still enjoy this part so much! We get to talk about something we’re both passionate about. I just like, it’s mostly passionate people here. So what’s not to love?
We all love movies!
Havana Rose Liu: Yeah!
Oh, and you’ve made your Off Broadway debut! Was that a whole other skill set to learn or were you ready for it?
Havana Rose Liu: It was definitely a whole other skill set. I don’t think I’ve been ready for anything that’s happened in my life. It’s just like, once you get there, you start scrambling. But I absolutely loved doing theater. And I think that, actually, out of all the things that sort of went to battle with my imposter syndrome, that was the one that I felt made the most impact. I sort of thought about actors as being theater actors. You know, people who could manage to play a character on stage, interact with an audience in a very particular way, hold their own in that capacity, be in flow up there. I think, just doing the play every night, it made me feel more like an actor than I’ve ever been. And it also made me really understand how much I love it. Because if I hated that experience, I think I might’ve pivoted, but I loved it. I was dying to do it every night. It was the most fun.
I think it’s entirely my male overconfidence, but I’d like to think that I could fake my way through a movie. I could fumble my way through acting in a movie. But stage? Every night? Live? That’s hardcore.
Havana Rose Liu: It’s exposing. Yeah, a hundred percent. That was my thing, too. I was like, well, the editor might be saving my ass all the time, but when I’m on stage, it’s just me. And I actually, I was okay! I loved it. It was okay to not have someone edit my performance.
Do you want to go to, do you want to go to Broadway next? Do you have like the vision board or the checklist, the bucket list, or do you just take it as it comes?
Havana Rose Liu: Take it as it comes. If something comes up that’s Broadway I resonate with it deeply, if it feels right, then a hundred percent, I’d love to do it. And if it never comes, then that’s okay too.
You already have this tremendous body of work and you’re still very young and you’ve worked with some legends in the field. I mean, you got Dustin Hoffman in this movie.
Havana Rose Liu: Ridiculous!
Is there anyone who you haven’t worked with yet or maybe even haven’t met, whom you would like to work with or meet?
Havana Rose Liu: So many people, so many people. I really love Olivia Colman, deeply. She always looks like she’s having a great time while performing. I would absolutely love to work with her. But honestly, I would just love to bring her coffee. I just need to be across from her. There’s just a ton of incredible artists in this field. Chloe Zhao. I mean, there’s just so many people who I look up to, and I feel like their process is something unique and special. And there’s something there that I would either just love to orbit, to learn from them, or to be in awe of.
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