The Real Reason Netflix's Steve Broke From Hit Novel Shy, According to Its Writer

Quick heads-up for anyone looking for something new to stream: Cillian Murphy's latest, 'Steve', just landed on Netflix after a blink-and-you-missed-it theatrical run. If you come for the always-reliable Peaky Blinders and Oppenheimer guy, you stay because he does not miss.

The essentials

• 'Steve' reunites Murphy with Belgian director Tim Mielants, the team behind last year's quietly devastating 'Small Things Like These'. This time, they trade that film's stillness for a more volatile, nerve-jangling vibe.
• It's based on Max Porter's 2023 novella 'Shy', set in the mid-90s at a reform school for boys with behavioral difficulties.
• The book is told from the teen Shy's point of view, but Porter adapted it himself and shifted the film's focus toward the school's exhausted head teacher, Steve - played by Murphy.
• Shy is still a major character, with Jay Lycurgo playing him, but the movie builds out Steve's inner life and places his struggle alongside Shy's.
• Netflix has it now. Plans start at £5.99 a month, and you can also get Netflix through Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Why it's not just 'Shy' on screen

Porter didn't want to simply transpose his book into a movie - and the title change is your first clue. In the novella, Shy narrates the world from inside his head. For the film, Porter wanted something less literal and more mirror-like, putting the teen and the teacher in conversation with each other. He told RadioTimes.com that a straight, page-to-screen version was never the plan, and that he set out to stretch Murphy in a different direction by making Steve the axis of the story.

"I wanted to write a part for Cillian that would really push him into a new and difficult space... We were going to keep the Shy story, but build the film around this teacher."

Porter describes spending months tuning Steve's voice and energy, figuring out how the man's private unraveling echoes the boy's. It's a very inside-baseball kind of adaptation choice - the author retooling his own book to explore a parallel character - and it pays off in the film's more chaotic, restless mood.

Jay Lycurgo went all-in on Shy

Because the movie doesn't cling to the book's format, most of the cast didn't need to live in the novella. Jay Lycurgo was the exception. He basically moved into it. He says he kept the book with him nonstop - yes, literally in the corner with a Walkman and headphones between takes - rereading passages to stay locked into Shy's thoughts, imagination, his complicated relationship with his mum, and what he still hopes his life could be. For Lycurgo, the book became the north star.

Porter backs that up, joking that Lycurgo's copy was beaten up like a well-thumbed Bible. He even made the actor mixtapes and playlists so Shy had a soundtrack in his ears at all times. Everyone else could ride the script; Lycurgo chose to burrow deeper.