Following his masterful, potentially Oscar-winning leading turn in Oppenheimer and his more intimate, personal portrayal of Bill Furlong in Small Things Like These (which will kick off the Berlin Film Festival on February 15), Cillian Murphy’s next film role will also mark an enormous, brand new step in his creative career.
Indeed, as Murphy gears up to star in and produce the Netflix-backed drama film Steve, so too will the feature have the distinction of being the first film produced through Murphy’s new production company Big Things Films, which he’s launching with film producer and fellow Irishman Alan Moloney.
Per Deadline, Big Things Films’ mission is to collaborate with new and established, singular, and passionate filmmakers, writers, actors, and directors with impactful voices, and will seek material designed to explore core, sometimes uncomfortable truths about who we are as humans. Murphy intends to act in as much of the company’s produced work as he can muster.
As for Steve, Big Things Films’ resident patient zero, the film will be a reimagined adaptation of Max Porter’s 2023 novel Shy, which followed the plight of a 16-year-old boy at an English boarding school for troubled young men.
Steve takes place at that same boarding school, but will instead examine a day in the life of the school’s eponymous headteacher (played by Murphy) who’s struggling to both discipline his students and keep a handle on his own deteriorating mental health.
With the spotlight shining down on Murphy now more than ever, it’s the perfect time for the Oppenheimer star to take the next big step in his artistry, and seeing what kinds of stories he and Moloney will be bringing to life through Big Things Films is cause for releasing a palpable excitement into the air.
Steve will begin production in the spring later this year.
(featured image: Universal Pictures)
