At the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sat down with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Daniel Roher (Navalny) in the Arby’s Cinema Center to discuss his upcoming heist thriller, Tuner. While in the studio, Roher also shared an exciting update for his mysterious follow-up feature with Netflix, titled Positano, starring Matthew McConaughey and Zoe Saldaña.

Working from a script by Alessandro Tanaka (Sharper), plot details are being kept under wraps, but we do know the movie is a romantic caper that takes place in Italy. Despite keeping specific points close to his chest, Roher does offer some compelling teases for fans to anticipate what’s to come. Referencing the press notes for Tuner, Nemiroff notes that the director mentioned there were “so many personal reasons” to tell the story, but was curious what it was about Positano that inspired Roher to turn his attention there next.

“Well, it’s twofold. One, from a professional and sort of ambition standpoint, I wanted to pick something that was bigger — bigger canvas, bigger scope, bigger scale. That was really important to me.

Then the other thing was, I have felt that living through the last year on planet Earth has been crazy, and it’s like nothing matters and everything is smoke and mirrors and everyone is just conning everyone, and there are no rules, and everything is just a fiction, and the story is very much a con man/con woman story. It’s about people who lie to protect themselves, and who drift through the world wearing masks with smoke and mirrors. I love the thematic relevance of the con man’s story, this person who’s just making up a vast conspiracy to try and achieve whatever good or bad aim. That’s really what drew me into Positano. Then, when you start to think about the locations and the scale and the scope and the cast, I loved every bit of that and wanted to try and sink my teeth into it.”

Regarding the scope and cast, with McConaughey being a constant presence in culture and Saldaña recently being crowned as the highest-grossing actor in history, anything these two do is sure to make waves. Working with two titans of the industry would be an honor for any director, but casting talent that encompasses the role is still essential. Roher explained why he wanted to cast them, and what made them the perfect fit for their roles in Positano:

“Just being around both of them is electrifying and thrilling. I told Zoe that I still have my ticket stub for the first Avatar, December 18, 2009, at Bay and Bloor Cineplex Varsity in Toronto. Zoe is someone who is maybe the kindest and most wonderful person I’ve ever met. She has such humility, and she’s so excited about this movie. She’s someone who has a really strong point of view and ideas with the character she wants to play, which I think is so cool.

Matthew is a genius at knowing what he does really well and knowing what kind of character he wants to play. We have cultivated this collaboration that’s thrilling for me. He’s sending me ideas, I’m sending him ideas back. We’re kind of talking in music. We make playlists. He sends me songs. He sent me this song for the movie that I’m just obsessed with. Like, it’s been stuck in my head nonstop, and I redesigned this whole set piece in the second act around McConaughey’s song.

So, that level of collaboration with two legendary Oscar winners, Zoe being the highest-grossing actor of all time, and McConaughey being McConaughey, for me, I pinch myself every single day that I get to work with this caliber of people. It’s a miracle.”

Why Dustin Hoffman Calls ‘Tuner’ One of the “Finest Scripts” He’s Ever Read

Roher discusses how meaningful it was to have Hoffman’s stamp of approval.

The Sundance Film Festival has such strong brand name recognition that audiences can conjure up an image in their head as to what a typical Sundance movie would look like. Of course, the legendary institution, in its final showing in Park City, Utah, is open to an endless variety of movies, but unexpected indie dramas that subvert genre conventions like Elevation Pictures’ and Black Bear’sTuner are true vintage Sundance pictures. Roher, making his return to the festival after winning the Sundance Film Festival Favorite Award in 2022 with Navalny, makes his narrative feature debut with this dynamic new film.

Starring Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman, Tuner follows a gifted piano tuner with a unique auditory condition, Niki (Woodall), who discovers an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down. The film is defined by the chemistry between Woodall and Hoffman, who plays Niki’s watchful guardian. As a documentary filmmaker, Roher imbues their relationship with a lifelike quality as the story routinely shifts in tone and direction.

As most independent films do, Tuner ran up against challenges throughout the development process, one of which Roher still ominously refers to as “Dark Thursday,” but Nemiroff was curious what it was that finally clicked into place where Roher could let out a sigh of relief. Without hesitation, the filmmaker recalls a moment shared with two-time Academy Award winner Hoffman:

“Well, probably we’re in London, England, in October of 2024 or something, and I’m sitting with Dustin Hoffman in his house, and he said to me, ‘This is among the finest scripts I’ve ever read.’ And I said, ‘Come on. No, it’s not. Give me a break. Really? You’re Dustin Hoffman.’ And he’s like, ‘No, really, I love it.’ What I didn’t know what he meant and what I didn’t fully appreciate in that moment is that when he was a kid he wanted to be a chess player.. That’s what he was really passionate about was piano and jazz so it really hit home on a personal level. And when you have a living legend like that who’s like ‘I really like this thing you did and I want to be part of it,’ that’s incredibly inspiring and very empowering.”

For more on “Dark Thursday,” the influences behind Tuner, and how the late great Rob Reinerinspired the score check out the full conversation in the video above with a time index below.

• 01:43 – This Piano Tuner Has a Very Special Set of Skills
• 02:16 – Daniel Roher Calls His Oscar Win a “Double-Edged Sword”
• 05:20 – Roher Recounts the Production’s Lowest Point “Dark Thursday”
• 06:30 – Dustin Hoffman PraisesTuner as “One of the Finest Scripts” He’s Ever Read
• 07:16 –Tuner Brings Scorsese Tarantino and The Coen Brothers to a Private World
• 09:47 – Finding the Perfect Casting
• 11:52 – The Diner Scene Required “Editorial Gymnastics”
• 13:40 – The Late Rob Reiner Played a Part inTuner‘s Unforgettable Score
• 14:48 – Roher Reveals Stories Behind<Tuner‘s Fine Details
• 16:05 – Daniel Roher Goes “Bigger” WithPositano
• 19:16 –Tuner Spiritually Connects to Roher’sThe AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist