Cillian Murphy to star in and produce Steve for Netflix, a collaboration with Big Things Films

Following his global success in 2023 with Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy is booked and busy again for 2024. Fresh on the heels of Small Things Like These, which opens next week at Berlin Film Festival, comes the actor’s next gig, Steve, in which he will star and produce. Netflix greenlit the film earlier today, Deadline reports.

Based on the novel Shy by Max Porter, this reinterpretation traces a pivotal 24 hours in the life of a headteacher (Cillian Murphy) at a last-chance reform school who struggles to keep his students in line while also grappling with his own spiralling mental health.

The greenlight officially launches Alan Moloney and Murphy's production company, Big Things Films. With this, Murphy further cements himself as a producer following his role as an executive producer on three seasons of Peaky Blinders and as producer of Small Things Like These.

An independent, artist-driven company, Big Things was initially created to produce Small Things Like These, and aims to collaborate with both new and established industry figures — filmmakers, writers, actors and directors — who bring passion and drive to what they do. In keeping with this artist-centric model, Big Things will collaborate with like-minded financiers, studios, distributors and streamers in both film and television.

The screenplay was written by Max Porter, with Tim Mielants (Small Things Like These) slated to direct and the Murphy-Moloney duo to produce. At present, a release-date announcement is forthcoming with production set to commence in the spring.