Cillian Murphy is to star in 'Small Things Like These'.
Cillian Murphy has been cast in 'Small Things Like These'
The 'Peaky Blinders' actor has been cast in the adaptation of Claire Keegan's novel that has been green-lit by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's production company Artists Equity.
Principal photography on the film has begun in Ireland with Emily Watson and Ciaran Hinds also set to star in the drama.
The story has been likened to a Charles Dickens tale and takes place over Christmas in 1985 as devoted father Bill Furlong (Murphy) discovers the shocking secrets being kept by the convent in his town and some damning truths about his own life too.
Murphy, 46, will serve as a producer on the movie and will be reunited with director Tim Mielants after the pair collaborated on 'Peaky Blinders'. Damon and Affleck are involved as producer and executive producer respectively.
Cillian said: "I'm honoured and thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Claire Keegan's magnificent novel to the screen.
"We have gathered together a phenomenal team of creatives to make this film, and found exceptional partners in AE, a studio led by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck – actors and filmmakers I have admired for many years."
The star previously revealed how he loves taking on parts in "melancholic" pieces and has no interest in featuring in a romantic comedy.
He said: "I’ve always been interested in stuff that is — I don’t want to say on the darker side, because that’s too reductive — the melancholic, or the ambiguous, or the more transgressive. That, to me, is drama. That is where the real stuff is to be mined. I’m not interested in romantic comedies. I’m just not. In all the great films or literature or plays, they’re the things I’m interested in.
"That’s not to say they can’t be funny: [the playwright Samuel] Beckett is funny; Enda [Walsh] is very funny. But getting into those knotty, difficult, uncomfortable places — I really find that stimulating."
Tagged in Ben Affleck Cillian Murphy Matt Damon