The Hollywood Reporter has unveiled something extraordinary: behind-the-scenes imagery from STEVE, captured by none other than Sir Don McCullin, the legendary British photojournalist whose lens has witnessed some of history’s most harrowing moments. At ninety years old, McCullin has declared this Netflix drama his final film project, a fitting capstone to a career that has included just a handful of cinematic ventures—most notably Michelangelo Antonioni’s BLOW-UP in 1966 and Ridley Scott’s BLACK HAWK DOWN in 2001.
Directed by Tim Mielants and written by Max Porter, STEVE reimagines Porter’s best-selling novel “Shy” through the story of a single pivotal day. Cillian Murphy embodies the title character, a head teacher navigating the crushing pressure of leading a last-chance reform school while battling to keep its doors open and his own mental health intact. The performance arrives on the heels of Murphy’s career-defining turn in OPPENHEIMER, though as the actor himself explained, the transition wasn’t calculated strategy but rather immediate necessity—as soon as the awards season ended, production on STEVE began.
The film operates on parallel tracks, following Steve’s deteriorating composure while simultaneously tracking Shy, a troubled teenager played by Jay Lycurgo, who took home a BIFA award for the role. Shy exists in the precarious space between his damaged past and an uncertain future, wrestling with the contradiction between inner vulnerability and outward violence. The ensemble surrounding these central figures includes powerhouse talents like Tracey Ullman, Simbi Ajikawo, and Emily Watson, all captured in McCullin’s reportage-style photography during several days spent documenting the production.
McCullin’s approach to these behind-the-scenes images deliberately references the aesthetic of his earlier conflict photography, bringing that same unflinching documentary eye to the process of filmmaking itself. The result offers something beyond typical promotional photography—these are images that carry the weight of witness, the same quality that made McCullin’s Vietnam War, Troubles, and Falklands War photographs historical documents of profound significance. That he chose STEVE as his cinematic farewell speaks to something essential in the material, a recognition perhaps that the battles fought in reform school corridors and within fractured psyches deserve the same serious attention he once gave to warzones.
After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, STEVE arrived on Netflix on October 3rd, bringing Porter’s intimate character study to a global audience. The collaboration between Murphy’s quietly devastating performance, Mielants’ direction, Porter’s adaptation of his own novel, and McCullin’s photographic documentation creates something that exists both as film and as artifact—a record of artistic creation captured by someone who spent a lifetime recording history as it happened.
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Legendary war photographer Sir Don McCullin spent days on set capturing behind-the-scenes magic from this raw Netflix drama starring Cillian Murphy about a head teacher fighting to save his reform school while battling his own demons.
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