Premiering next month at TIFF is Steve, starring Cillian Murphy as the troubled head teacher at a last-chance school for boys with societal and behavioral issues. Murphy plays the titular role, who is coping with his own mental illness while also coping with the school’s impending closure. The film is directed by Tim Mielants, who Murphy previously worked with on Small Things Like These.
Author Max Porter (The Thing with Feathers) wrote the screenplay, reimagining his fourth novel Shy.
Joining Murphy in the cast is Titans and The Batman actor Jay Lycurgo, plus Tracey Ullman, Emily Watson, and Simbi Ajikawo.
SYNOPSIS: Set in the mid-90s, Steve is a reimagining of Max Porter’s Sunday Times bestseller Shy. The film follows a pivotal day in the life of headteacher Steve (Academy Award® winner Cillian Murphy) 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 and impending closure, we witness him grappling with his own mental health. In parallel to Steve’s struggles, we meet Shy (Jay Lycurgo), a troubled teen caught between his past and what lies ahead as he tries to reconcile his inner fragility with his impulse for self-destruction and violence.
Steve will open in theaters in September, followed by Netflix on October 3rd.
