As trite as it sounds, some actors are simply meant for roles – as if the character already lives beneath their skin. In Tim Mielants’ new film Steve (adapted from Max Porter’s 2023 novella Shy), Jay Lycurgo embodies Shy – a furious, fragile teenager hovering on the edge between self-destruction and salvation. Set over the course of a single, spiralling day at a 1990s residential school for boys who’ve run out of chances, Steve charts Shy’s struggle to break free from the chaos within, while a group of weary but determined teachers fight to reach him. Sharing the screen with luminaries including Cillian Murphy, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman, and Simibiatu Ajikawo (Lil Simz), Jay’s performance beats at the film’s core – raw, ecstatic, and unguarded – mirroring Cillian Murphy’s stoic yet sensitive head teacher.

Even before he was cast, Jay began shaping Shy; researching and attending alternative education classes, where, by some sort of kismet, his father taught for seventeen years. This convergence of destiny and dedication makes his portrayal all the more magnetic, captured expertly by Mielant’s lingering close-ups, conveying each flicker of tension. Through Max Porter’s lost boy, Jay Lycurgo has been found.

Shana Chandra: I just want to say a huge congratulations. You’re amazing in this movie. How are you feeling?
Jay Lycurgo: I mean, the last few weeks have been incredible. I’ve really enjoyed it, to be honest, because I love the film. I’ve watched it six or seven times now, and every time it hits me.

SC: Have you? A lot of people don’t like to watch themselves.
JL: I just think it is a marathon, acting. We can do this for a very, very long time. I respect that some actors can’t watch themselves because it’s very vulnerable, and it’s very present – the process of [making] Steve was very present. But I love the craft of it, and I want to improve with every performance I do, so I should watch every performance and learn from them. And you know, what a great experience to watch Cillian Murphy eight times. [laughs]

SC: Especially in this role, one of my favourite scenes with you happens early on, when Shy’s on the phone to his mum and there’s that heartbreaking moment where she puts up boundaries, but in a sense also disowns him. It made me think of a quote you’ve said before about trauma, how trauma’s so fascinating because at one point your parents look after it and then it’s up to you to do that. You really see that in this scene. The movie is so heavy with emotion, both light and dark – how did you prepare for it?
JL: I think there has been versatility in the roles I’ve chosen, but all of them have a common factor of really trying to find the truth of human nature. Shy was no different. Luckily, I had this incredible resource with the book Shy, so I was able to read that constantly. It really did become a bible and a diary.

And then I had great conversations with Max Porter, and Tim Mielants. Incredible guys. Very sensitive boys as well. Men who are lost boys. I feel like I was really able to be open with them from the beginning, but that’s because of them. They were just so honest. They saw me as a person, and that felt so freeing – I felt like I could trust them. On top of that, my dad works in schools, in the alternative educational unit, so I was able to go to his office and chat with him. As soon as I got the audition, it was that beautiful moment where a job hits home very closely. I went to the schools with him, and I worked with the kids and the teachers. This was before I had the job. It just felt like a good opportunity to learn about what my dad does at work. You see him every day, walking in and out and working with misguided teens – he’s been doing it since 2009.  So, it really was a group effort, a collaborative effort, and I wouldn’t be able to push myself as much as I did if I didn’t have those guys.

“The writing feels so relatable; it’s a powerful book.”

SC: What’s the biggest thing you learned from this experience?
JL: It’s hard to articulate because I felt so seen with this project. Mental health is such a universal topic and a universal feeling. I’ve personally gone through moments in my life where I’ve felt so lost and not had a light at the end of the tunnel. This team we created for this project, with Cillian, Max, Tim, Tracey Ullman, Sims, we all felt like we had that responsibility. It’s a vital topic to be a part of, to reflect on and educate yourself and others.

Also, retrospectively, I realise how important teachers are. When I think back to when I was younger, I never thought about my teacher having a family and having to deal with everyday struggles. So, it’s made me reflect a lot on how incredible teachers are, how important it is to have mentors and role models, because they’re really trying their best with what they have. Sometimes they have very little, or they have been overwhelmed with what they’ve been given. 

“It’s a vital topic to be a part of, to reflect on and educate yourself and others.”

SC: I love that you talk about the Max Porter novella as your bible and that it helped you immerse yourself in the character of Shy. I was wondering if you’ve gone back over the book and seen it in a different light?
JL: I remember when we were gearing up for press, I read the book again, and it just brings you back to the scenes, really. I was feeling emotional reading it. It felt the same when I was watching the film. People ask me what it was like after filming something like that, and I just said, “I was OK, I was fine.” But I wasn’t really fine. [laughs] I isolated myself quite a bit, and also during the filming process. Because we were shooting in chronological order, and because the film is set in a 24-hour day in the unit, it was very immersive. When Shy was talking to his mum, or when Shy was talking about his nan, those scenes really hit hard personally, and when I watch those, they take me right back to the day of filming – I get goosebumps. And it was the same with the book. The writing feels so relatable; it’s a powerful book.

SC: There’s a moment in the film where Tracey Ullman’s character talks to the television crew and she speaks in official terms about how complex these boys’ lives are and then says in unofficial terms, just how much she adores them. That comes through with all the students – they’re such characters and you can’t help but fall in love with them. Shy is really lovable too, how did you feel towards him and what parts were important for you to show us?
JL: Shy already had a brilliant foundation and felt so human to me. I trusted that any human emotions I was going through as Shy would be understood, because we’ve all struggled. The brain is a powerful thing, there can be a chemical imbalance; we can feel very low, we can feel lost. I also feel like some people aren’t necessarily OK with communicating that, or don’t have the resources to understand it themselves. Behind closed doors, we’ve all been very volatile – I’m sure we’ve all screamed into a pillow or slapped the side of a desk in a moment of panic or fear. I would like to think that I can empathise with human emotion, I just hope that an audience member can see themselves in Shy. I think Shy symbolises all of us when we do feel low and lost.

SC: One of my favourite scenes is when he’s angry in his therapy session and throws the chair, that’s a scene that I identified with.
JL: That’s what I mean though. It’s very intense, but we live in a world where we all have to walk a certain way, talk a certain way. Sometimes there is a place you want to go where you can just express yourself. I’m so fortunate to have had that environment on set. On Steve, it does look dangerous, but it’s very controlled. Tim is a brilliant, brilliant director, he wants you to go as far as you want, but he’ll always bring you back if you go too far. That scene with the chair was very choreographed and we felt safe; we were in our parameters. But it doesn’t mean that selfishly, I didn’t want to win against that chair. [laughs]

SC: Your chemistry with Cillian is amazing, but all the boys have such good chemistry with each other – especially the fight scene. How did you develop that intimacy?
JL: What was beautiful was that we did workshops for two weeks before we shot. Once all of us were cast, we went to the location – an all-girls’ school near Bath – and we had the whole place to ourselves. Tim did these amazing exercises to help us understand our characters. For some of the boys, it was the first time they’d ever acted: Ahmed Ismail and Josh Barry. Once again, due to Tim’s brilliance, he was able to make these guys professionals in the two weeks he had with them before the shoot. There were so many conversations Tim had with each boy about our lives, and then we’d potentially throw those into our characters. So, when I say it was a collaboration, it really was.

Grooming Lauraine Bailey.
Steve is out now on Netflix.