Cillian Murphy reunites with director Tim Mielants for 'Steve'. The film is a tight, 92-minute character piece set across one fraught day at a last-chance reform school. Porter adapts his own book, shifting the lens from the teen protagonist of Shy to the headteacher who keeps the place running. Murphy also produces through Big Things Films with Alan Moloney.
Release plan and where to watch
'Steve' premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 4. It will get a limited theatrical rollout starting September 19 in the U.S. and the U.K., then it will hit Netflix worldwide on October 3. Netflix lists the film as an R-rated drama with a 1h 33m runtime.
What the film is about
Cillian Murphy in 'Steve'. Credit Robert Viglasky/Netflix
Set in the mid 90s, the story follows Steve, the head of Stanton Wood, a rural residential school for boys who have run out of road in mainstream education. Over a single day he tries to shield the staff and students from a looming closure while the school becomes the subject of a visiting news crew. The film runs Steve’s private battle in parallel with Shy, a thoughtful student pulling against violent impulses and a fraying family connection. Expect tense staff rooms, field searches for missing boys, and the constant push-pull between authority and survival.
Source material and why the title changed
Porter’s Shy is a short, lyrical book told from a teenager’s point of view. The movie reframes that world through the headteacher. Murphy has said of first reading Shy, “Max gave me that book in a proof edition before he finished it, and again it just broke my heart. They’re the sorts of things I love as a reader and as a performer, so I really wanted to do something with him.” The shift to Steve signals that the film is pairing two arcs rather than simply transposing the novel.
Who’s making it
Tim Mielants directs, reuniting with Murphy after Small Things Like These and earlier work together. Max Porter writes the screenplay and serves as executive producer. Robrecht Heyvaert handles cinematography, while Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow provide the score, which leans into 90s textures and ambient unease.
Cast and characters
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Cillian Murphy as Steve, a headteacher at the end of his rope who still fights for his students
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Jay Lycurgo as Shy, a bright kid carrying more than he can hold
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Tracey Ullman as Amanda, Steve’s veteran deputy
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Emily Watson as the school’s therapist-counsellor
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Simbi Ajikawo as Shola, a new teacher who changes the room dynamics
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Roger Allam appears as a local MP tied to the closure decision
How it looks and feels
Footage and early write-ups point to a blend of verité and subjective chaos. The film weaves in staged “interviews” for the TV crew that has descended on the school, then slips into woozy, first-person fragments as Steve’s day spirals. Expect handheld camera in cramped hallways, chalk-dust classrooms, and wet-field searches that track the boys’ hair-trigger energy. It is designed to feel immediate and a little unsafe.
Early reaction from Toronto
The first wave out of TIFF calls Murphy’s performance raw and exposed. Reviews note the film’s intensity and its refusal to sand down the mess of institutional collapse. Some critics see a difficult watch with strong acting. Others highlight the way the structure pairs teacher and student and lands on a small note of hope. One detail getting quoted: a student’s deadpan three-word self-portrait and another’s blunt advice, “Always carry a blade,” both of which sketch the stakes without sermonizing.
Why it matters for Murphy
'Steve' extends Murphy’s run of character-driven dramas and deepens his producing slate. It also continues his collaboration with Mielants, who favors grounded settings and moral pressure cookers. For audiences, the draw is simple. This is Murphy in close-up, playing a man who sees both the good and the rot in a system and is fraying at the same pace as the place he is trying to save.
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