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Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy has reached dizzying heights in his career, from starring in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, to portraying Thomas Shelby in Peaky Blinders.
Although he has achieved remarkable success on his own, the Irish actor credits a former teacher with sparking his love of literature, poetry, and theatre.
In his newest film Steve, which he describes as a love letter to teachers, Murphy portrays an impassioned headteacher working in a last-chance reform school.
Set in the mid-Nineties and directed by Tim Mielants, the movie follows a pivotal day in the life of Steve, played by Murphy and his students, who exist in a world that has abandoned them
The drama is a reimagining of Max Porter’s Sunday Times bestseller Shy, named after its protagonist, a teenager who boards at the school with a programme for troubled youths.
The movie follows Shy’s relationship with Steve, who in turn is grappling with his own mental health as he fights to protect the school from closure.
Murphy, 49, who also serves as a producer on Steve, says he had no fixed template for his character, but pays tribute to a teacher who inspired him.
“I had a teacher in secondary school. He wasn’t necessarily an inspiration for this character, but he was an inspiration to me personally,” says the Cork-born actor.
“He was one of those teachers who reached out, connected, and saw something in me. His name’s Bill Wall, for the record, and he’s a poet and a novelist, but at the time he was teaching English. He kind of unlocked literature, poetry, and theatre for me.
“He was very encouraging and I’ve never forgotten it.”
“There wasn’t a specific template for me (for his character). I think Max (Porter) had certain people in mind, but there’s also a lot of myself in the character,” he adds.
I May Destroy You star Jay Lycurgo, who plays Shy, says he gained valuable insight into reform schools through his father, a teacher.
“My dad works in alternative education units, so I was able to visit his school, spend time with the kids, and have a lot of conversations with him,” says the 27-year-old actor.
“As soon as I got the audition, I started talking to him about it. From there, I had great resources like the Shy book, which has all the details, and constant conversations with Tim (Mielants) as well.”
The Croydon-born actor, whose character has impulses for self-destruction and violence, says he had to dig deep in this role.
“You lose yourself a little bit. But I feel huge gratitude to Max Porter, the writer, and Tim,” he says.
“I wouldn’t have felt safe enough to go that deep without them and those conversations. It was the greatest gift I could have had over those eight weeks, and I owe them a lot.”
Murphy praises his co-star Lycurgo, describing his talent as an “innate gift.”
“You can feel it when someone comes along with that innate gift, you can develop and hone it, but you can’t learn it,” he says.
“But he just has it. That lovely line Max wrote, where Steve says he has a ‘generous pain,’ is a beautiful description, and he just radiates that. He’s going places fast.”
The film also stars Simbi Ajikawo, more commonly known as Little Simz, Tracey Ullman and Emily Watson, who starred with Murphy in the Irish drama Small Things Like These.
Ajikawo, 31, who also wrote the track ‘Don’t Leave Too Soon’ for the film, says it was an honour to contribute as both a musician and an actor.
“I’m so grateful they trusted me with the music as well as the character of Shola,” she says.
“When I was in Shola mode, that’s what I was focusing on. But when it came to doing the music, it felt more like an out-of-body experience, drawing from the performances I saw from Jay, Cillian, and Tracey.
“I just tried to put all of that into three and a half minutes and make sure I said everything I could.”
Ullman, 65, who plays the deputy headteacher Amanda, says she was thrilled to be in this film as she’s always wanted to do a project like this.
“I’ve always wanted to be in something totally naturalistic, like a Ken Loach film,” she explains.
“I think Cillian’s wife heard me say this on the radio and suggested we get me involved in the film. So, Yvonne, I owe you! I got to come in, be naturalistic, and do what I’ve always wanted to do. I’m so thrilled.
“Cillian Murphy is our leader. He’s inspired all of us, and that’s why we made it, obviously.”
Mielants, who also directed Small Things Like These, says this film is a love letter to teachers and the Nineties.
“It’s a love letter to the Nineties, and I felt the camera asking, ‘Who is this man? I want to figure out who he is.’ It’s intriguing to be a more silent observer, and he becomes more confident towards the end,” explains the Belgian director.
“We even used lenses and equipment from the Nineties.”
When asked what the film is really about, he says: “I think this film seeks out the beauty and the pain in children that society too often dismisses. That’s important. It’s also about the devotion of teachers who see talent in youngsters where others only see failure.
“I think we all carry these teachers inside of us. This movie is about that belief, about trying to see who people really are, rather than building fences around them.”
Steve is in select cinemas from September 19 and on Netflix from October 3.
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