Cillian Murphy leads Netflix drama ‘Steve’

Netflix has released the first trailer for "Steve", a drama starring Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy as a headteacher struggling to save both his reform school and himself. Based on Max Porter's 2023 novel "Shy", the film will have its world premiere at the New York Film Festival, running from September 26 to October 13, before streaming globally on October 3. It will also open in select theatres on September 9.

Set in mid-1990s England, Steve follows the tense final days of a last-chance reform school on the brink of closure. Murphy's character, Steve, faces mounting bureaucratic and emotional pressures, while working with boys society has written off. At the story's core is Steve's connection with Shy (Jay Lycurgo), a volatile yet vulnerable student battling his past and self-destructive impulses.

The project reunites Murphy with director Tim Mielants ("Peaky Blinders", "Small Things Like These"), and features a cast including Emily Watson, Simbi Ajikawo (Little Simz), and Tracey Ullman in a rare dramatic role. Porter, who adapted his own novel for the screen, expanded the narrative to explore Steve's personal journey alongside Shy's. Murphy, who also serves as executive producer, drew inspiration from his own upbringing in a family of educators, calling the role "scary in a great way" due to its sustained emotional intensity.

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The film's score is composed by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, adding to what Netflix describes as "an absorbing family drama" about legacies of political and personal violence, and the difficult path toward redemption.