Actor Simu Liu, known for his role as the protagonist in Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has expressed a desire to play the leading role in a movie adaptation of Sleeping Dogs.
On social media platform X, Liu spoke about his experience pitching a movie adaptation of the open-world title to film executives who didn’t understand it. He also would like a sequel down the line.
“So few film projects make it from pitch phase to greenlight,” said Liu in the post. “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.”
The last time we heard anything about a Sleeping Dogs movie was back in 2018, with action star Donnie Yen saying that the movie was still under production. More recently, however, Yen has said that the movie is 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 a recent interview with Polygon. “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 a cult-classic open-world action game that puts players into the shoes of undercover cop Wei Shen. It’s an epic story about feuding mobs in Hong Kong and how these criminal elements can often bleed into civilian life. The title was originally released back in 2012 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
For more details on Sleeping Dogs, check out our thoughts on why the game is still addictive even today.
So few film projects make it from pitch phase to greenlight. 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. pic.twitter.com/g84r9Lf0SI
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) January 31, 2025
