Havana Rose Liu Talks Processing Grief Through ‘Tuner’   

Havana Rose Liu is doing everything she can to keep the United States’ job numbers at a respectable level. She not only has two movies in theaters at this very moment — Daniel Roher’s Tuner and John Carney’s Power Ballad — but she also has a third one coming in July, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell. If that hat trick of films wasn’t enough, she’s already reteamed with her latter co-star, Sophie Thatcher, for the Cate Blanchett-produced Peaches, and then she has three A24 films in the pipeline from filmmakers Jesse Eisenberg, Arkasha Stevenson and Alex Garland. 

The Brooklyn’s native’s prolific run of seven new features is all the more impressive when you consider that she never set out to be an actor. Discovered on the street when she was a student at NYU, her career largely materialized during the pandemic. A starring role in 20th Century’s No Exit (2022) and a head-turning part in the critically acclaimed high-school comedy Bottoms (2023) seemingly opened the flood gates from there.

“When you lay it all out like this, it makes me overwhelmed,” Liu tells The Hollywood Reporter in response to her list of recent work. “I still feel imposter syndrome all the time. But I’ve given up a lot to live this life, and that makes me feel less outside of it. I’ve found a home here.”

In Tuner — Roher’s narrative debut following a best documentary Oscar for Navalny (2022) — Liu stars as Ruthie opposite Leo Woodall’s Niki. She’s an advanced composition student in music who’s working on a piece that will signify the culmination of her studies and potentially land her a prized apprenticeship with a top-notch composer. She first crosses paths with Niki when he interrupts her practice time at her music school in order to tune the piano.

They gradually get to know each other and fall for one another. Ruthie learns that Niki was once a piano-playing prodigy until he was struck by hyperacusis — a rare hearing disorder that makes one hyper-sensitive to everyday sounds. In turn, Niki discovers that Ruthie’s musical ambitions originate with her recently deceased grandmother. The composition she’s been working on, “Pearl Watch Rhapsody,” even doubles as a eulogy for her. But Niki does not disclose to his budding romantic partner that he moonlights as a safecracker in order to pay his mentor’s (Dustin Hoffman’s Harry Horowitz) hospital bills.

For Liu, the role of Ruthie proved to be deeply cathartic having just lost her own grandmother prior to receiving the Tuner script.

“Through experiencing Ruthie’s process of transmuting her pain into something of purpose and of creative brilliance, it made me think more about how my grandmother would appreciate that honor, so this performance is my eulogy for her in some capacity,” Liu explains. “I definitely incorporated a lot of her clothes — and other things that were of significance to her — into the film. So the whole experience felt really unique and special in how cathartic and moving it was.”

Below, during a conversation with THR, Liu also discusses learning advanced piano in a matter of a couple months, before offering the briefest of teases for her robust upcoming slate.

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In Tuner, you play an advanced composition student named Ruthie, and I have to imagine you were overwhelmed at the prospect of having to sell her skill level on piano. At what point in the audition process did they inform you that you’d have to learn piano? 

It was upfront. In reading the script, I understood that it would be a part of the challenge of the role. But it was also very enticing to have to learn a whole new skill in two months, and I seem to like adrenaline.

Between lessons and practice, you played for about four hours per day? 

Between lessons and practice, I honestly don’t have a rough estimate to give you because I was basically practicing anytime I wasn’t eating, sleeping or in a lesson. We initially did lessons with incredible instructors about three times a week, and towards the end, we started to do them even more frequently.

Ruthie’s grandmother put her on the path she’s on by teaching her piano, and throughout the film, she works on a piece that functions as a eulogy for her grandmother. I read that the timing of Tuner hit rather close to home for you given the recent loss of your own grandmother at the time. Did this role prove to be somewhat cathartic? 

Yeah. When I started talking about this film, I wasn’t sure if I would share the personal nature of it. But through experiencing Ruthie’s process of transmuting her pain into something of purpose and of creative brilliance, it made me think more about how my grandmother would appreciate that honor, so this performance is my eulogy for her in some capacity. I definitely incorporated a lot of her clothes — and other things that were of significance to her — into the film. Everyone was so supportive of that process, and the entire crew helped me move through that grief. So the whole experience felt really unique and special in how cathartic and moving it was. 

You and Ruthie both work in incredibly competitive fields. She likely sacrificed a lot of her social life growing up to reach a point where she can potentially apprentice with a world-class composer. I was going to ask if you made similar sacrifices growing up, but then I learned you fell into acting by accident during your later years at NYU. Has your success helped eliminate any imposter syndrome you might have felt early on?

Yeah, it was crazy how much imposter syndrome I had. It felt like I was waking up every day and wearing someone else’s clothes. I still feel imposter syndrome all the time. But I’ve given up a lot to live this life, and that makes me feel less outside of it. It’s more like I’ve given everything I possibly can to be inside of it. So I feel myself appreciating the title [of actor] a little bit more, and no matter if I label myself as an actor or feel any kind of way about it, I’m just so in love with doing it. Whether it’s someone’s birthday or wedding, I’ve given up a lot in order to keep doing what I love, and that speaks to the fact that I must love it a lot. I’ve found a home here.

Being as focused as Ruthie is, do you think she’s mostly avoided romantic relationships? Is Niki (Leo Woodall) the exception? 

Yes, that’s definitely how I built her out. She lives in this zone where she feels she has to choose between ambition and romantic relationships or intimacy with other people. Also, because of her recent heartbreak and loss, she feels extra closed off. She’s in a tender spot. So their specific alchemy opens her up to feeling more comfortable about letting intimacy into her life, but not at the expense of the work she wants to do in the world. It’s actually a boost to it.

Yeah, Ruthie stresses about the arrangement of her live performance, prompting Niki to suggest adding a keyboard. And Ruthie thought it was “annoying” how he had the perfect idea on the spot. That’s also how you described working with Leo. You said it’s “desperately annoying” how good he is. So I wondered if you used the word annoying because your character also used it to describe his character.

Oh my god, he’s so talented and immediate in his work. I was filled with awe. And I never connected those dots [between that scene and working with him]. That section was partially improvised, so I might have just used my own vocabulary word of “annoying” there.

In the classic motion picture Clueless, there’s a comedic scene where Cher (Alicia Silverstone) has a guy over, and as soon as he walks in her house, he points out that something is burning. She then rushes to the oven to find her mangled log of cookie dough. Well, you and Leo have the traumatic version of that scene, and I appreciate the way you sold the terror of the moment as the smoke director tortures his character’s highly sensitive ears.

I haven’t heard that [Clueless] take before, but I love us reinterpreting it. I love that scene. It was a real turning point in the relationship, and it was a really interesting one to shoot as well. That section in Ruthie’s room, we basically shot it chronologically because we could. It was an interesting place to get to in understanding how their relationship develops. He softens in this very particular way, and his shame is so clear. It’s one of the first moments where you realize that they feel something deep for each other. There’s a tenderness and desire from her to make him feel safe, and his need for that is just so apparent. So that scene feels very raw and beautiful to me.

Tuner is Daniel Roher’s narrative debut after years of documentaries. Did he approach the process differently than most? 

Yeah, completely. On the first day of shooting, they called out for a blocking rehearsal, and Daniel turned to me and Leo and said, “What is that? What’s blocking?” (Laughs.) And I remember Leo and I exchanging a look of like, Oh my God, this is actually fucking awesome. Daniel barreled ahead full force, and he had such deep belief and confidence and knowledge that he was going to learn throughout the process, so it felt like our responsibility to help shepherd. He was so comfortable with having a beginner’s mind around the process that it gave us a lot of room to explore in new ways that you don’t get to with other directors who have a built-in process.

His take on documentaries — which is to basically capture life as it is and create a story from that — very much informed his process as a narrative director. A lot of the time, if he didn’t have an answer to what was happening in a scene or what needed to be adjusted, he’d really hand it over to us to create life in some other way. In our scenes and in Dustin’s [Hoffman] scenes, we were able to do such crazy improv left and right in order to make things work. So Daniel really felt like he was there to capture life. 

He’s talked about being afraid of actors and being afraid of giving notes, and that came out in some areas. But when he did give notes, they weren’t the most classic notes. He would talk about these characters partially as real people, so it was a very specific and unique process.

I’m glad I asked about imposter syndrome earlier because having a director ask you about blocking is a surefire way to no longer feel like an imposter. 

Yes! Honestly, yes. It’s why I love working with a first-time director in that way. We both enter into it like it’s our first time, and we get to figure out our process together. There’s a release to it that feels like we can tackle the unknown together in an interesting way.

In our waning moments, I want to speed through your upcoming slate, because you haven’t just landed some of the jobs, you’ve landed all of the jobs.

(Laughs.)

John Carney’s Power Ballad is another music-themed film of yours that expands nationwide on June 5. You shot it before you became a virtuoso pianist? 

Yes, I watched Nick Jonas be a virtuoso piano player first. 

It was a sign of things to come. 

Yeah, maybe. It was me looking ahead. [Writer’s Note: I hadn’t seen Power Ballad at the time of this interview, so I did not know yet that THR factors into the conclusion of her character’s story.]

You then shot a third music-themed movie for director Jesse Eisenberg and A24. This was after you became a virtuoso pianist?

Yes, it was. That one is … I’m very excited to see it.

Her Private Hell hits theaters in July, and we’re talking a couple weeks before its May 18 Cannes premiere. How was your time in the mad world of Nicolas Winding Refn?

Oh my God, mad. It was absolutely mad, sparkly and wild. I have not even seen that film yet. So I’m just as in the unknown as you are, but I’m very, very excited to see it soon.

You and Sophie Thatcher worked together on that movie, and then you quickly reteamed for a Hong Kong-set comedy called Peaches. Was the immediate reunion pure happenstance? 

It was only a couple months afterwards that we started shooting together again, and it was freaking awesome. It was totally happenstance. It happened outside of our control. Neither of us was in a position to pitch the other person anyway. It just happened, and it was so synchronized and wonderful. Sophie is such an amazing actress, and I felt really lucky to have her as a counterpart on that next film. We’d built up so much safety and courage with each other on Nick’s set that then it folded into the dough of the next one very beautifully.

You recently shot another A24 movie with Arkasha Stevenson …

And I had the time of my goddamn life. I love everyone involved, and I’m thrilled to see what that one becomes.

And you’re currently filming yet another A24 movie — Alex Garland’s Elden Ring.

When you lay it all out like this, it makes me overwhelmed. (Laughs.) The only thing I can say is that I’m deeply enjoying the process and everyone involved.

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Tuner is now playing in movie theaters nationwide.