Cillian Murphy led the UK premiere of Steve, Tim Mielants' film of Max Porter's novella Shy, set over one day at a reform school in the mid-1990s.
Steve, Tim Mielants’ adaptation of Max Porter’s novella Shy, held its UK premiere at Curzon Mayfair on Tuesday 16 September 2025. Cillian Murphy, who plays the title role, produced it through his own company.
Murphy was born in Douglas, Cork, in 1976. His mother taught French, his father worked for the Department of Education, and his grandfather, aunts and uncles were teachers too. A drama module at school led by Pat Kiernan of Corcadorca set him on the stage, and his professional debut came in Enda Walsh’s Disco Pigs in 1996. 28 Days Later, Breakfast on Pluto and a long run of films with Christopher Nolan followed, alongside Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders, and he won the Academy Award for Best Actor as J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Porter adapted his own 2023 novella, and Murphy’s company Big Things Films produced with his long-time collaborator Alan Moloney; Murphy and Porter had worked together before on the stage version of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers. Murphy plays the headteacher of a school for boys with social and behavioural difficulties, with Tracey Ullman, Jay Lycurgo, Simbi Ajikawo and Emily Watson around him.
Ullman, Lycurgo, Little Simz and Mielants joined Murphy on the carpet, where he spoke of his parents’ years in the classroom. The film opened in British cinemas on 19 September and reached Netflix on 3 October.