Cillian Murphy has been snapped looking virtually unrecognisable on the set of his new Netflix film for the first time.
The Oscar-winning actor, 48, sported a scraggly grey beard streaked with ginger, alongside a longer salt and pepper hairstyle – a far cry from the clean-shaven, close-cropped look he is famed for as Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders.
The Irish Oppenheimer star wore a black dry robe over his costume while shooting scenes for the movie Steve in Bath last week, with his hood pulled up to keep a low profile.
A production assistant also held an umbrella above him to further shield the 28 Days Later star from curious gazes – and the persistently dreadful British weather.
When uncovered, Murphy’s costume also revealed a scruffy look for his headteacher character, for which he donned a blue suit and white unbuttoned shirt complete with a large brown stain down the front.
Murphy is starring in the Netflix adaptation of Max Porter’s novel Shy.
The production follows a pivotal day in the life of Steve, a headteacher at a last-chance reform college for boys in the 1990s, as he and his students fight to stop its impending closure.
Meanwhile, Murphy’s Steve is struggling with his mental health while Jay Lycurgo – who plays troubled teen Shy – is caught between the ghosts of his past and enormous questions about his future.
Shooting wrapped last week on Steve, which was written for screen by Porter himself and produced by Murphy and his collaborator Alan Moloney for their production company Big Things Films.
When Steve was officially announced earlier this year, Murphy explained to Deadline: ‘It was Max’s idea to change the perspective and flip it around to the headteacher who runs this institution.’
‘Myself and Alan and Max got on a call and we started to turn it around in our heads and it seemed like we could make a film out of it. The same events happen, we’re just looking at them through a different lens.’
Murphy and Porter previously worked together on the stage adaptation of his debut book Grief is the Thing with Feathers, as well as short film All of This Unreal Time.
The writer shared a polaroid picture of himself with actors Murphy and Lycurgo to mark the end of production on Instagram.
‘Up and at ‘em Shy,’ he wrote in the caption.
‘Production wraps this week. I’m lost for words really. What a team. You won’t believe what these people have made. More soon…’
Steve is directed by Tim Mielants, who was lead director on BBC police drama The Responder, with Martin Freeman and also directed Murphy in upcoming film Small Things Like These, about Ireland’s infamous Magdalene laundries.
The in-demand actor is also set to delight fans with returns to two of his biggest franchises, thanks to the Peaky Blinders film, which will be released by Netflix, as well as 28 Years Later, the long-awaited sequel to 28 Days Later, which is currently in production.
It also stars Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Back to Black star Jack O’Connell and marks a return for Danny Boyle as director and co-writer with Alex Garland.