Netflix has dropped the first trailer for Steve, which will world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival next month in the Platform strand. Check it out above.
This is Oscar winner Cillian Murphy’s latest starring turn, and also is the second feature from his and Alan Moloney’s Big Things Films. It will receive a theatrical release in select cinemas on September 19, before dropping on Netflix on October 3.
Steve is a reimagining of Max Porter’s 2023 Sunday Times bestseller Shy, and twists that story on its axis to be told from reform school headteacher Steve’s point of view. Porter wrote the script and executive produces. Tim Mielants, who recently helmed Big Things Films’ Small Things Like These, is director. Murphy and Moloney produce under Big Things.
The drama is set in the mid-1990s and follows a pivotal day in the life of Murphy’s eponymous character and his students at a last-chance reform school amidst a world that has forsaken them. As Steve fights to protect the school’s integrity while also fighting its impending closure, he grapples with his own mental health. In parallel to Steve’s struggles, troubled teen Shy (Jay Lycurgo) is caught between his past and what lies ahead as he tries to reconcile his inner fragility with his impulse for self-destruction and violence.
The film takes place on a day where a documentary TV crew is interviewing the teens and the teachers. It functions as well as a commentary on the political present, which Porter recently discussed with us. Murphy, for his part, told us the role was “one of the most kind of exposing and terrifying characters I’ve ever played.”
Steve also stars Tracey Ullman, Simbi Ajikawo (aka Little Simz) and Emily Watson.
