Jay Lycurgo's Quiet Rise: How I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning Could Change Everything
Jay Lycurgo just went from a BIFA-winning turn in Netflix's Steve to premiering at Cannes in Clio Barnard's I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning. It's not luck. It's three back-to-back projects shaped by a mentorship with Cillian Murphy, a deliberate ten-month career pause, and a 28-year-old actor who decided being happy mattered more than staying busy.
What the Film Actually Is (and Where to Find It)
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning premiered at Cannes 2025's Directors' Fortnight in May. No theatrical release date has been announced in the UK, US, or India as of now — that's standard for a festival title, but expect distribution deals to lock in within the next few months.
Here's what you're watching:
Director: Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant, Ali & Ava)
Cast: Jay Lycurgo, Joe Cole, Anthony Boyle, Lola Petticrew, Daryl McCormack
Runtime: Unconfirmed (Barnard's recent work runs 90–100 minutes)
Based on: Kieran Goddard's novel, adapted by Enda Walsh
The story follows five childhood friends in Birmingham—Patrick, Shiv, Rian, Oli, and Conor—who grew up together, skipped school together, dreamed together. Now they're thirty. The dreams aren't happening. Lycurgo plays Oli, the group's surface-level comic relief, except Oli's also battling a serious drug addiction. That contradiction—the funny one who's actually drowning—is exactly the kind of role actors hunt for.
Movie OTT's where-to-watch tracker will have confirmed streaming availability across Netflix, Prime Video, MUBI, and regional services the moment a distributor locks in. India release is realistically Q4 2025 at the earliest, probably early 2026.
Why Clio Barnard Doesn't Make Safe Films
Here's what gets lost in most Barnard coverage: she doesn't explain working-class life. She builds the texture of it. The Selfish Giant used a Yorkshire scrapyard like a character—rubble and rust and light through chain-link fence. Ali & Ava (88% on Rotten Tomatoes) found something genuinely warm inside economic precarity without ever softening the reality of it. No score. No easy resolutions. Just people.
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning feels like the natural third chapter. Birmingham's estates. A friendship group so long-formed they've stopped questioning each other. The way addiction seeps through a social circle like a slow leak, not a sudden rupture. What strikes me is that Barnard shoots close—tight framing, faces, the spaces between what people say and what they mean. If you responded to All of Us Strangers or think This Is England is one of the best British films made in the last two decades, this one will land the same way.
The Cillian Murphy Connection (and Why It Matters)
The backstory here is genuinely interesting, and it explains a lot about how Lycurgo's career went from £800 BBC daytime drama gigs to Cannes in three years.
Murphy produced Steve—he'd gotten an early copy of Max Porter's novel and optioned it. Then played the reform school's headmaster opposite Lycurgo's Shy, a lost young man whose upbeat exterior masks something much darker. Lycurgo won the BIFA for Best Supporting Actor for that performance. A BAFTA Rising Star nomination didn't follow (which caused what Variety called "widespread disappointment"), but the BIFA told you what actually mattered—the film community got what he'd done.
On set for Steve, Murphy mentioned he was working on The Immortal Man, the Peaky Blinders spin-off. Months later, Lycurgo got the audition. Got the part. Pulled on the flatcap. Delivered.
Then came I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning. Murphy's friendship with screenwriter Enda Walsh created another thread. Lycurgo told Variety he's not entirely sure how direct Murphy's involvement was—"but having him in my corner is a powerful thing, especially with those eyes." That's not a throwaway quote. That's a professional relationship that's functioned, across three consecutive projects, as an actual launchpad. He calls Murphy a mentor now. Texts him regularly.
Most coverage frames this as a mentorship story, and it is one, but the more interesting question is whether Lycurgo can hold a lead without Murphy's name anywhere on the call sheet. The CAA signing suggests his team thinks so. Though that part is still rumour—from what I gather, there's a U.S.-set project in early conversations that would test exactly that.
What Lycurgo Said About Playing People Who Actually Live These Stories
"I love these characters, I love those stories—it's just so real," Lycurgo told Variety at Cannes, speaking from the Carlton Hotel's back garden (Louis Vuitton had dressed "this depressed kid" after Steve, as he joked). "Shy and Ollie, they both breathe in this world and it doesn't feel artificial."
That lands differently when you know his personal stake. Lycurgo's father is former footballer David Johnson, who went into education after retiring—working in the exact kind of institution depicted in Steve. So when he talks about having "real motivation" for that role, it wasn't talking points. It was personal.
"I think every actor would love to find a character where they can fully immerse themselves," he added. "Because once you have that, you're gonna strike gold."
He's 28. Born in Croydon. Rejected from the BRIT School at fifteen because he thought acting was just about "trying to get a tear down your cheek." Trained at ArtsEd. Made his professional debut on Doctors—the BBC daytime drama—for £800. Not a bad origin story if you think about where he is now. He just signed with CAA, which is the clearest signal yet that his trajectory is being managed at a different level. An upcoming genre project is confirmed but undetailed—horror, thriller, or sci-fi remains unclear. The move away from kitchen-sink realism for one project makes strategic sense. It proves range.
Where This Lands for Indian Audiences
Here's the speculative part, so bear with me.
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning has no publicly confirmed streaming deal as of writing. The most likely scenarios for Indian audiences:
Netflix India — Barnard's Ali & Ava landed on Netflix internationally, making this the probable home given Netflix's existing relationship with Steve
MUBI India — Strong track record with Directors' Fortnight titles and British arthouse cinema; genuinely competitive. The word on the lot is MUBI has been aggressive about Cannes 2025 pickups, having acquired seven Directors' Fortnight and Un Certain Regard titles in the 2023–2024 cycle alone.
Amazon Prime Video India — Less likely given the profile, but Prime has surprised before
Theatrical in India — Possible in PVR/INOX arthouse screens in Mumbai and Delhi, though the window would be narrow
No regional-language dub has been announced. Hindi and Tamil subtitles are realistically months away from any streaming debut.
What I'd say to Indian audiences specifically: if Gangs of Wasseypur or Mirzapur connected with you—the ensemble texture, the weight of geography and circumstance—this film's emotional architecture will feel recognisable. The setting is Birmingham, not Varanasi, but the question at the centre doesn't require translation: What happens to the version of yourself you planned to become?
Check Movie OTT's tracker in Q4 2025 when regional release details start locking in. The site updates across all major platforms simultaneously, which saves the back-and-forth of checking each app individually.
The Awards Question (and Why It Matters)
Steve generated real momentum—BIFA wins, critical consensus, the kind of film that stays in conversation. The question hanging over I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning is whether Barnard's follow-up picks up the same kind of awards traction.
A BAFTA Outstanding British Film nomination is a reasonable expectation given the cast and director. For Lycurgo personally—a lead actor nomination at BIFA would put him in a different conversation entirely. Supporting nods are one thing. Lead recognition at thirty would signal he's crossed over from promising young actor to genuinely significant talent.
Murphy's next directing or producing project remains unconfirmed, but Lycurgo's made clear he's in for whatever it is. That relationship alone is worth following.
Should You Actually Watch This?
Yes. Specifically if you're someone who found All of Us Strangers emotionally precise, or who thinks This Is England is one of the best British films of the last two decades.
What keeps coming back to me is how Lycurgo uses the "comic relief" framing. That's almost always a trap for actors—become the funny one, disappear into function. The fact that he apparently uses it as a backdoor into something much more painful is exactly the kind of craft choice that wins awards and, more importantly, stays with you after the lights come up.
Keep an eye on Movie OTT for confirmed streaming availability across the UK, US, India, and Spain as distribution deals are announced. The moment a platform locks in acquisition rights, the announcement will hit there first—along with the exact release window and whether a theatrical run precedes it.
What's Next
The Jay Lycurgo trajectory—from £800 BBC daytime drama to Cannes Directors' Fortnight via a BIFA and a Cillian Murphy mentorship—is one of the cleaner arcs in British film right now. I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning is the chapter that could make it permanent. Watch for a UK theatrical announcement in the coming months, followed by a streaming window in late 2025 or early 2026. That's when we'll know if this is a moment or a movement.
