Cillian Murphy pushed for ambitious way of filming Steve – but director thought it was impossible

Directed by Tim Mielants and adapted by Max Porter from his 2023 novella Shy, Murphy stars as the titular character: an overworked, hugely-stressed headteacher working at an understaffed reform school for boys with behavioural difficulties in the mid-90s.

The Peaky Blinders star also serves as a producer in the film, and in that role suggested an unusual and ambitious way of making the film, which Mielants doubted would ever actually work: shooting every scene in chronological order.

“It was Cillian's idea to do it," the director explained in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com. "I thought it wasn't even possible. Like, no producer would ever let me.

"But he got it from Ken Loach, and that's how we worked on it. So actually, you never get the discussion in the morning, like, 'Where were we, what did we do before?' Or. 'Where am I coming from?' Because we did it yesterday.

"And I think if you start to dig deep from the start, you only have to search something deeper. So it gave a very, very nice evolution to the storytelling. And we were aiming for something really deep."

This film is not the first time that Mielants and Murphy have collaborated. The Belgian directed every episode of the third season of Peaky Blinders back in 2016, before the pair teamed up on last year's incredibly moving drama Small Things Like These – which was adapted from a novella by Irish writer Claire Keegan.

One of the standout features of that earlier film was the stillness with which the story unfolded, Mielants adopting a restrained, minimalist approach that made the drama all the more powerful.

With Steve, he's taken a different tack: this is a stylised, hyper-active film that mirrors the sometimes turbulent minds of its protagonists. But despite that differences, the process of making the two films was actually very similar.

"It may look [like] chaos, but actually it wasn't," Mielants explained of the filming process. Just like his previous directorial effort, he had to meticulously prep every shot in the film – and indeed this was perhaps even more important when it came to adopting what he called a "wilder tone."

"I think you have to do that," he said. "[Acclaimed Belgian directors] the brothers Dardenne taught me if you want to go wild, you have to know exactly what you want to do. So it was all prepped, but I'm very happy it it feels that way – that was the intention."

One thing that Steve and Small Things Like These do have in common is that both deal with protagonists who are driven largely by a sense of compassion – a desire to do the right thing even when faced with difficult circumstances both external and internal. This speaks to something that both Mielants and Murphy were keen to explore.

"Vulnerability is actually the strongest weapon we have as human beings, and that's something I really believe in," he said. "I think – I hope – that shines through the movies we've done together."

He added: "Unfortunately, I'm very good at [depicting] vulnerable men with depression! So that's who... that's who I am. We can be each other, and I can be myself with him, and he can be himself with me, and I think we can share vulnerable ideas and be very open, and be very open to make mistakes.

"And I think that's how you explore wild things, where you can be bold and you can try out different things. So I think it's just like trusting each other. I think that's the main word between the two of us. We trust each other."

Steve is now showing in select UK cinemas on Friday 19th September and will be released on Netflix on Friday 3rd October.

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