Cillian Murphy takes on challenge of 'unadaptable' book in new Netflix drama streaming this week

Cillian Murphy is a bona fide star, but even he has admitted that he had reservations about creating his latest Netflix project.

While you might be accustomed to going to the big screen to watch Murphy work his magic, his latest project is actually coming to the streaming giant in just a few days

The film, Steve, is set to drop on Netflix on October 3, and it has already delighted many critics, currently maintaining a pretty solid Tomatometer score of 78 percent.

The drama is an adaptation of the book titled Shy by Max Porter, which tells the story of one night in the life of a troubled teenager who escapes from a home for 'very disturbed young men'.

It was released back in 2023, but interestingly, the film takes on a slightly different perspective compared to the book.

The film is set during the 90s and sees the Irish actor portray a headteacher named Steve who is working at a British college trying to keep the doors open.

Cillian Murphy portrays a headteacher struggling with his mental health and a rambunctious group of students (Netflix)

This is all while battling the challenges of his hell-raising pupils, as well as his own struggling mental health.

While this seems straightforward enough, both the book’s author - who has a writing credit for the film - and Murphy have admitted they thought Shy was simply ‘unadaptable’

In real life, Murphy and Porter are actually good friends and have collaborated before, but Porter admitted he thought it would be difficult to get the film to work due to the protagonist in the book following one of the students, named Shy.

Porter said: “I felt it was unadaptable because of it being a kind of weather system in Shy’s head. Also, I was a bit worried about all my content being wrung out for adaptation.”

Murphy has also admitted to having apprehension about getting the film to work.

Speaking to The Guardian, Murphy said: “While I adore Shy as a piece of literature. I recognized that it was unadaptable.”

Steve has been favorly spoken about by critics already (Netflix)

He added that Porter was able to convince him to take up the project and shine more light on the shadowy figure that is Steve from the book and bring him to the forefront.

The Guardian also gave a glowing review of the upcoming film and insisted it is well worth your time.

It reads: “The result [of the film] is a virtuosic piece of expressionistic storytelling set in a last-chance remand school in the 1990s, where overworked and underpaid staff struggle to nurture boys written off by society.

“It is simultaneously a cry of rage about a dysfunctional system, cut beyond the bone by a previous era of axe-wielding Tories, and a demonstration of why teenagers like Shy are worth saving, despite their often monstrous behavior.”

The film will be available on Netflix from October 3.