Cillian Murphy Admits He Barely Acted in 2025’s Most Heartbreaking Movie — Here’s Why
Cillian Murphy says get ready for Netflix’s next gut punch: Steve, a searing take on Max Porter’s Shy that follows a teacher fighting to save troubled kids while holding himself together. In a new Deadline interview, he hints it could be 2025’s most devastating watch.
File this under: famous actors saying the quiet part out loud. Cillian Murphy just called his Netflix drama 'Steve' so real there was basically no acting involved. It is adapted from Max Porter's novel 'Shy', it tracks a teacher trying to wrangle a group of volatile kids while wrestling with his own stuff, and a lot of early viewers are calling it 2025's most heartbreaking movie. Fun times.
'No acting involved' and why this one got under his skin
In a new chat with Deadline, Murphy said 'Steve' hit uncomfortably close to home. He grew up surrounded by teachers — both parents, a grandfather who was a headmaster, plus aunts and uncles — so the school world is basically the family business. That familiarity made the job feel less like building a character and more like dropping him into a very real, very unstable environment with kids who are unpredictable and hurting.
"There was really no acting involved."
His words, not mine. He describes the shoot as two months of living in that headspace — anxious, hyper-present, reacting moment to moment — which he calls both scary and weirdly exhilarating. He also credits the people around him (read: writer Max Porter and director Tim Mielants) for creating a space he trusted enough to go there.
Written for him, spoken like him, and that was terrifying
Murphy has played plenty of complicated guys — Thomas Shelby, Oppenheimer — but he says 'Steve' is different because Porter wrote it specifically for him. The two talk a lot, skip small talk, and dive right into the messy stuff, and that collaboration bled into the script. Porter even wrote to the rhythms of how Murphy actually speaks, so there was no mask to hide behind — not even an accent.
"One of the most exposing and terrifying characters I've ever played."
That tailor-made vibe sounds like a gift until you realize it leaves you completely exposed. No big transformation. No trick. Just the raw, personal version of him on screen. He calls that thrilling. Also: terrifying.
90s setting, timeless teenage chaos
The movie lives in the 1990s, but Murphy pushes back on any idea that makes it a period piece about problems that vanished with dial-up. Loneliness, anger, confusion — those are perennial. He even name-checks a Netflix series called 'Adolescence' from Owen Cooper, calling it one of the greatest things he has ever seen, and says there is a thematic overlap: growing up is messy, no matter the year.
And because this is the part that matters, he makes the point that kids were wounded and isolated long before social media. Tech is not the cure or the culprit; real, face-to-face connection is. The 90s setting just strips away the noise so you can see the same pain clearly.
Quick hit details
- Title: Steve (based on Max Porter's novel 'Shy')
- Director: Tim Mielants
- Cast: Cillian Murphy, Tracey Ullman, Jay Lycurgo, Simbi Ajikawo, Emily Watson
- Runtime: 1h 32m
- Rotten Tomatoes (so far): 77%
- Vibe check: a teacher trying to reach volatile, damaged kids while he keeps his own emotions from boiling over
The bottom line
'Steve' sounds like the most bare-wire thing Murphy has put on screen — intimate, unnervingly personal, and yes, heart-breaking. If you want to see him without the armor, this is it.
'Steve' is currently streaming in the US on Netflix.