Few actors would make the kind of choices that Cillian Murphy has after winning the prestigious Best Actor Academy Award, but he has always charted his own unique path. However, there aren’t too many ways in which an actor can top winning an Oscar for headlining a Christopher Nolan movie that grossed nearly $1 billion. And so, Murphy made perhaps the only logical move that he could; he went back to basics, and starred in two simmering character dramas. The first, Small Things like These, debuted to excellent reviews last year, and the second, Steve, was released on Netflix to an equally positive response this week. Both films are directed by Tim Mielants.

According to FlixPatrol, Steve was also a viewership hit, ranking first in Murphy’s home country of Ireland and third in the United Kingdom. Steve was the 20th-most-watched movie on Netflix worldwide on October 4, with the possibility of climbing higher up the charts. It premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where it was received enthusiastically. Steve currently holds a “certified fresh” 76% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “A sobering drama that throws everything along with the kitchen sink at its doggedly determined hero, Steve‘s pileup of crises can strain credulity but Cillian Murphy’s superb performance keeps it grounded in reality.” Set in the 1990s, the film follows the psychological struggles of the titular character, a teacher at a boys’ reform school, over one grueling day. Mielants’ previous film with Murphy, Small Things like These, was a similarly internal psychological drama, about a soft-spoken Irishman’s moral dilemma amid horrifying circumstances in the 1980s. Small Things like These received even better reviews, and is currently sitting at a “certified fresh” 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Cillian Murphy Has a Packed Line-Up

Murphy isn’t just doing small-budget character dramas after the blockbuster success of Oppenheimer a couple of years ago. He’s set to reprise his role as Thomas Shelby in The Immortal Man, the upcoming feature film adaptation of Peaky Blinders. It was recently announced that the hit crime drama will also receive a sequel series following the film. Murphy is also expected to appear in the upcoming 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the direct sequel to this year’s 28 Years Later, itself a legacy sequel to the original 28 Days Later that Murphy starred in.

You can watch Steve on Netflix, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Release Date

October 3, 2025

Runtime

92 minutes

Director

Tim Mielants

Writers

Max Porter

Producers

Alan Moloney