Sleeping Dogs Movie Script’s First Draft is Done, Says Shang-Chi Star Simu Liu

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings actor Simu Liu has revealed that his hopes of adapting the open-world action game Sleeping Dogs into a movie are seeing some progress. In a social media post, Liu has confirmed that the first draft of the Sleeping Dogs film script is complete.

Along with this announcement, Liu also wrote about working with Sleeping Dogs IP owner Square Enix. “They’re absolutely great,” he wrote about the publisher. “It’s the studios that don’t seem to understand how important this IP is, BUT we will get them there.”

Liu had first spoken about wanting to work on a Sleeping Dogs movie back in January, where he had also expressed similar thoughts about film executives not quite understanding the value behind the IP. Aside from this, he had also written about wanting to make a sequel to the original game at some point as well.

“So few film projects make it from pitch phase to greenlight,” he said on social media in January. “Pitching execs who don’t understand the game has been tiring. Everyone’s overwhelming love of Sleeping Dogs here has really given us life!”

“First a movie, then a sequel game for everyone… That’s always been the dream.”

It is worth noting that Liu’s attempts at getting this adaptation off the ground are only the latest for the open-world action-adventure. A film adaptation was also in the works back in 2018, with action star Donnie Yen set to play a prominent part. While he said at the time that production on the movie was still happening, the project was essentially dead.

“I spent a lot of time and did a lot of work with these producers, and I even invested some of my own money into obtaining the drafts and some of the rights,” said Yen in an interview with Polygon earlier this year. “I waited for years. Years. And I really want to do it. I have all these visions in my head, and unfortunately… I don’t know, you know how Hollywood goes, right? I spent many, many years on it. It was an unfortunate thing.”

Sleeping Dogs is an open-world action game that takes place in the city of Hong Kong. While the title was far from an original take on the genre like Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row aside from its unique setting, it quickly became a cult-classic owing to its emotional and action-packed story, the wide range of side activities available to players, and its emphasis on hand-to-hand martial arts-based melee combat rather than epic gun fights.

The original Sleeping Dogs release happened back in 2012 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Since then, it has gotten a Definitive Edition release on PC, PS4 and Xbox One with updated visuals and smoother performance. For more details, check out our thoughts on why it still holds up even today.