Is Cillian Murphy's Steve based on a true story? Inspiration behind the latest Netflix drama, explored

Oscar-winning actor Cillian Murphy is channeling his stardom to bring small Indie films like Netflix's Steve to the screen, and his fans are loving every bit of it. The Peaky Blinders star has collaborated with author Max Porter for the latest drama film, which premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival before making its impressive debut on Netflix.

The film follows an exhausting day in the life of Steve, who is the headmaster of a British reform school called Staten Wood. The drama explores themes of systematic neglect and emotional vulnerability in young boys.

While director Tim Mielants draws heavily from his documentary filmmaking experience and the movie is presented in an interview-style format, Steve is not based on a true story. The film is inspired by Porter's 2023 novella Shy, which follows a student at the reform school. Murphy and Porter turned to an excluded chapter from Shy (which was based on the titular headmaster) and wove it into a visual narrative for the film.

Cillian Murphy's Steve is based on a fictional novel

Netflix's latest Indie film is based on Max Porter's 2023 Sunday Times bestselling novella, Shy, titled after the troubled 16-year-old student at Staten Wood, played by actor Jay Lycurgo in Steve. It is only fitting that out of all the boys at this reform school, Shy is featured with a special sympathetic lens in the movie. As the namesake character in the original work, Jay Lycurgo's character has received special attention in the film.

Max Porter's novella Shy follows the titular troubled boy over the course of a few hours one night at his British boarding school. Like Steve's screenplay, Porter's writing style in the novella is experimental, reflecting Shy's chaotic mind during the harrowing day. In the film, we catch Murphy's character on a particularly chaotic day, when the boys at Staten Wood are as wild as ever, and a crew is filming the students and staff for a special documentary.

As the headteacher, Steve is calm and poised throughout the tribulations of his day, but loses himself when he is informed that his reform school is shutting down due to lack of funding. While the movie and novella are not based on a true story, Porter conjured his fictional tale from the real-life experiences of many reform schools. He told Esquire:

"Anybody reading this book now, who is awake, will see what the consequences of a place like Last Chance closing is. When you close youth clubs and social support systems in inner cities, what happens when you strip the welfare state of funding? These things are obvious and terrifying. Where are we? Where are we going?"

Shifting perspectives of Max Porter's narrative

While Porter's 2023 novella follows a troubled student at a reform school, the author decided to shift his narrative's perspective in Netflix's Steve after his experience on the book's press tour.

While his audience resonated with the heartwarming tale of Shy and how he adapts as a teenager, they were particularly drawn to the character of the headmaster and wanted to see more of him.

As Porter told Decider:

“On the book tour I met some incredible people who would stand up and say, ‘Thank you. I did this job for 40 years, and it’s hard, day in, day out. I was abused and screamed at but wouldn’t change a day.’'

This feedback led Porter to explore a different character in the familiar setting of his novella, and thus Murphy's character was born. He added:

“I wanted to concentrate on the life of one teacher under intense pressure who cares for these boys. As a novelist, I love to put people under enormous pressure and see how they bend and flex and break and recover. Steve was an easy character for me to focus on, because I love him.”

The titular character in Netflix's drama was specifically written for Cillian Murphy, who has previously worked with Porter on a stage production of his debut novel, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers. In a way, the actor feels that Steve is ''in my gene pool,'' as Murphy comes from a long line of teachers in his family.

Steve is streaming on Netflix.