Latest news with #ClaireKeegan
RTÉ News
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Cillian Murphy-starring Steve to have world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival
The Cillian Murphy-starring Steve is to receive its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September, where it will compete as part of the festival's Platform programme. The Platform programme is described as "a first glimpse at some of the most compelling cinematic voices on the rise" and champions "bold directorial vision and distinctive storytelling". The Platform Award is the only juried prize at the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from 4 to 14 September. The school-based drama Steve reunites Murphy with Small Things Like These director Tim Mielants and co-star Emily Watson. The film will be released in selected Irish cinemas in September and will arrive on Netflix on 3 October. Steve is described as "a reimagining" of Max Porter's best-selling novel Shy. The British author has written the screenplay and is also the film's executive producer. "The film follows a pivotal day in the life of headteacher Steve (Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy) and his students at a last-chance reform school amidst a world that has forsaken them," says Netflix. "As Steve fights to protect the school's integrity and impending closure, we witness him grappling with his own mental health. "In parallel to Steve's struggles, we meet Shy (Jay Lycurgo), a troubled teen caught between his past and what lies ahead as he tries to reconcile his inner fragility with his impulse for self-destruction and violence." Joining Murphy, Watson, and newcomer Lycurgo in Steve are Tracey Ullman (The Tracey Ullman Show, Mrs America) and Simbi Ajikawo (Top Boy) aka rapper Little Simz. Having launched their company Big Things Films with the acclaimed adaptation of Claire Keegan's bestseller Small Things Like These, Murphy and his production partner Alan Moloney are releasing Steve as their second feature. Murphy and author Porter previously collaborated on the stage adaptation of Porter's Grief is the Thing with Feathers and the short film All of This Unreal Time. "I just adore Max's writing and the thing his writing does for me, which Claire Keegan's writing does as well - and it's something I've always chased down in writing - is something that has an actual visceral effect on you, an emotional effect," the Cork actor told entertainment trade publication Deadline when Steve was first announced in February 2024. "I remember reading Foster, Claire's short story, I remember actually crying reading the book and having to put my hood up on the train to try to hide, I was so embarrassed. "And then Shy was also that book. Max gave me that book in a proof edition before he finished it, and again it just broke my heart. They're the sorts of things I love as a reader and as a performer, so I really wanted to do something with him."
Irish Examiner
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Beginner's pluck: Virginia Evans
A prolific reader who was always writing stories, Virginia attempted her first novel at 19. 'I kept on writing novels. I self-published one, because my computer broke. I needed to sell enough copies so that I could buy a new one, and I did.' Meanwhile, Virginia worked at various jobs. 'I was a paralegal; I scheduled surgery for an orthopaedic surgeon; I worked in customer service and in administration, but I'd get up early and write.' When she was 32 and still unpublished, Virginia was accepted on the MFA for creative writing at Trinity College, Dublin. 'I moved my family over, and life has never been better. We all felt so settled.' She was working on her eighth novel, titled the American Photograph with, among others, Claire Keegan, Carlo Gebler, and Kevin Power. 'I gained my agent from it.' At the start of covid, in March 2020, the family returned to the US. It was a tough time. 'I was a wreck,' she says. 'I was grieving, and the book wasn't selling.' Her agent suggested that she tried something new. 'I'd started writing The Correspondent for myself. My agent persuaded me to let her send it out and it's sold well around the world. I still can't believe it.' Who is Virginia Evans? Date/ place of birth: 1986/ South Carolina. 'But I was brought up in Pennsylvania and Maryland.' Education: High school Annapolis, Maryland; James Madison University in Virginia, English and creative writing; 2019, Trinity College, Dublin, MA of Philosophy in creative writing. Home: North Carolina. Family: Husband Mark, son Jack,12, and daughter Mae, nine, and red labrador, Brigid. The day job: Full-time writer. In another life: 'I would have been an arborist; I'm fascinated by trees.' Favourite writers: Deirdre Madden; John Williams; Anne Patchett; Maggie O'Farrell; William Trevor. Second book: 'I'm working on two first drafts.' Top tip: 'Take a walk with nothing in your ears.' Website: Instagram: @ The debut The Correspondent Michael Joseph, €17.99 At 73, Sybil's life is shrinking. A compulsive letter-writer, she's kept those she loves at a distance. Confronted by a past mistake, it's time to reassess. Is it too late for a happy ending? The verdict: A glorious, life affirming debut. I adored it.
