Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu via Getty Images
Murphy won an Oscar last year for his leading role in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer
After more than a decade in the role, Cillian Murphy has been reflecting on playing the violent patriarch, Tommy Shelby.
The Irish actor told BBC News that playing the Peaky Blinders title character for more than a quarter of his life has been a “gift and privilege”.
But Murphy said that he’s nothing like the character, joking that he’s not a “psychopathic gangster”.
A Peaky Blinders film will be released soon by Netflix, although Murphy said the plot line is still under lock and key.
It comes as the Irish actor promotes his new film, Steve, which follows his titular character’s attempt to turn around a 1990s reform school for boys, while trying to cope with his own mental health problems.
Teasing the Peaky Blinders film, which has been written by the show’s creator Steven Knight, Murphy said: “I think it’s better to keep it under wraps, keep it a surprise.”
Viewers have seen Murphy lead the Shelby organised crime gang with tortured efficiency since 2013 and across six series.
The actor said the length of time he has played Shelby has been “defining” for him.
“To grow older with a character, you don’t really get to do that, and that is the joy of long-form television,” he said.
“We never anticipated that the TV show would have that impact, would be so adored and have that longevity. It is defining.”
Since the original series concluded in 2022, Murphy has also starred in Small Things Like These and won an Oscar for his leading role in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
Discussing the key to Peaky Blinders’ success, Murphy said it is a sort of “magic”. “Mostly the writing, I think, but also it was a moment in time.”
He added: “The beauty of that show is that I have gone off and done other things in the meantime and played lots of other characters.”
BBC Studios
Murphy’s Tommy Shelby will be on the big screen soon, Netflix has said
Among them is Steve, the headteacher of a reform school in 1996, battling the emotions and behaviour of the teenage boys living there as well as his own personal demons.
The new film chronicles a single day at the school where what can go wrong, does go wrong.
A documentary crew with questionable morals is filming, a local MP is visiting and both Steve (played by Murphy) and Shy (Jay Lycurgo), one of the pupils, receive devastating news.
Both characters are pushed to the brink, taking the audience on an emotional and often heartbreaking journey.
Murphy described the film as a love letter to teachers, as they are “custodians of next generation.”
Netflix
Steve is set in a 1990s reform school for boys
The similarities between Shy and Steve are apparent throughout – even if they are at different stages of life.
“It’s a flip-side of a coin what these characters are experiencing and they just can’t reach each other,” Murphy explained.
The film’s themes touch on education in challenging circumstances, men’s mental health and adolescent violence.
Even though it is set 30 years ago, “It is just demonstrating that this stuff is always there,” he added
“The conversations are kind of manifold and different,” Murphy said of the reaction to the film so far. “Everyone sees it through the prism of their own life experience”.
Steve was based on the 2023 novella, Shy, written by Max Porter. The author has adapted the story for the screen.
He and Murphy previously worked together on the play, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, also based on an original book by Porter.
As for Lycurgo, he will also appear in the upcoming Peaky Blinders film, but followed Murphy’s lead in keeping the details secret.
Steve is in cinemas now and will be released on Netflix next month.