Cillian Murphy takes on a bold new role in Steve as Netflix drops trailer

Steve is the latest Cillian Murphy movie. And it already looks like one of those movies that remains with you for a long time after it's over. Netflix just dropped the trailer, and it’s looks absolutely haunting, even without the horror factor.

Murphy, who’s been etched in pop culture as the sharp Thomas Shelby in Peaky Blinders and recently mesmerized audiences in Oppenheimer, seems to be stepping into yet another role that digs deep under the skin.

The movie comes from Max Porter’s Shy, a novella that took the Sunday Times bestseller list by storm in 2023. It’s a short and powerful piece of fiction. On screen, it’s going to be something even more haunting. It follows a teenage boy over the course of one restless night as he wanders the grounds of a residential reform school.

He is wrestling with anger, guilt, and the crushing consequences of choices made too young. But between the lines, it’s about the mess inside a mind that feels like it might break. There is also the desperate search for redemption and the fragile hope that someone or something might still believe in you. Porter’s writing has that raw emotional pulse and it feels perfect for the kind of storytelling Cillian Murphy gravitates toward.

Steve brings Cillian Murphy back to the big screen

Cillian Murphy is the kind of actor who can disappear into a role so completely that you forget you’re watching someone act. In this movie, he seems to be stepping into another part that demands the intensity only he can pull off.

Joining Murphy are Jay Lycurgo, Tracy Ullman, Simbi Ajikawo, and Emily Watson. They are bringing their own expertise into the movie's already rich emotional palette. Behind the camera, Tim Mielants is the director. Murphy himself teams up with Alan Moloney and Tina Pawlik to produce. The movie will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025, followed by a limited theatrical run starting September 19. And then it will make its way to Netflix on October 3, 2025.

The official logline, per Netflix, paints a picture of two intertwined journeys:

"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 head teacher Steve (Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy) and his students at a last-chance reform school amid a world that has forsaken them. As Steve fights to protect the school’s integrity and prevent its impending closure, he grapples 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."

From the first few seconds, you can sense this drama is layered and heavy with emotions. In the trailer, we see the film peppered with a vérité vibe. There are scenes that feel like interviews or off the record clips. And it really gives the movie a real world texture as if we’re watching Steve’s life in real time and unfiltered.