- Small Things Like These is an adaptation of Claire Keegan’s 2021 novel of the same name
- The project will see Murphy reunite with Peaky Blinders director Tim Mielants
- Matt Damon will co-produce the film with Murphy
A year on from the role that both won him the Oscar or Best Actor and also left him feeling “pretty broken” and “worn out”, Cillian Murphy is tackling another painful historical story in his upcoming Irish drama Small Things Like These.
The Oppenheimer star will reunite with Peaky Blinders director Tim Mielants on the film, which tells the story of New Ross coal merchant Bill Furlong (Murphy), who makes a discovery that forces him to confront secret abuses that are taking place within a local convent.
Small Things is an adaptation of the 2021 novel by Claire Keegan, which won the Orwell Prize for political fiction and was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize. While a fictional tale, the novel drew from the incidents that took place at the real-life Magdalene Laundries, which saw Catholic nuns around Ireland separate unmarried, pregnant women from their children, until the last one closed in 1996.
Murphy’s Oppenheimer co-star Matt Damon has signed onto co-produce, with Murphy explaining to Vanity Fair how he pitched the project to the Good Will Hunting star.
“I gave the script to Matt [Damon] when we were shooting, and he loved it. I remember saying that it’s a different film, but it would share some thematic crossover with Manchester by the Sea, which Matt also produced…. It was like I was pitching between Manchester By The Sea and Doubt.”
The film will be released in the UK and Ireland on November 1 and in the United States on November 8. Murphy will star alongside Eileen Murphy, Emily Watson and Game of Thrones star Michelle Fairley.
