“Oppenheimer” and “Peaky Blinders” star Cillian Murphy has launched his own production company, “Big Things Films,” alongside friend and fellow collaborator, Alan Moloney.
Their first official launch is with the film “Steve,” which will be released on Netflix. Murphy will star in and produce the film as his first official “Big Things Films” project. Netflix has signed on to distribute “Steve” globally, with production beginning in the spring, according to a recent interview with Deadline.
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“Steve” tracks an intense 24 hours in the life of the main character, a headteacher played by Murphy, who grapples with maintaining order with his students while struggling with his own mental health issues, according to Deadline.
Moloney and Murphy are long-time cast mates who co-starred in “Peaky Blinders,” and they’re geared up for their new adventure. Murphy acted as an executive producer to three episodes of “Peaky Blinders” and as producer of “Small Things Like These.”
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Murphy’s new company will produce both film and television projects and will seek material that he, himself, can act in.
Speaking of his new venture and relationship with Moloney, Murphy said, “We had talked about this for quite a while, about changing the relationship from just producer to actor to actually forming a company.”
For Murphy, the time to dive in was now.
“A lot of things happened simultaneously: I read this book, I gave it to Alan, then I got Oppenheimer and I went off to do that. In the meantime, we were securing the rights, in the meantime Alan happened to be working with Matt Damon and I was working with Matt Damon so there was a lot of serendipity around it,” Murphy revealed.
“But from my own point of view, I definitely felt like now was a good time to have a bit more agency for myself in terms of generating work.”
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The star explained, “it was really about trying to have a little more agency and control in terms of my career.”
Murphy is thrilled with how things are developing and considers this a career-high.
“Making Small Things and being in post definitely was one of the most satisfying things of my whole career — and we found that with everybody who was involved in the film, from the crew and the cast and into the post-production, it really was a gorgeous experience and we’re happy with the outcome,” he said. (RELATED: ‘It Fetishizes Everything’: Cillian Murphy Talks About His Disdain For Fame)
“I know they’re not all gonna be like that, but it was a great way to start.”