She’s usually found tracking down criminals as Joan Watson on US TV’s Sherlock Holmes show Elementary these days, but for a new indie drama, Lucy Liu will be stepping to the other side of the law, albeit for desperate reasons, in **Snakehead.
Evan Jackson Leong is set to direct the film based on his script, which follows a Chinese immigrant who arrives on the streets of New York without a cent to her name, desperate to reunite with her daughter. So when the bosses of the local human smuggling ring – known as “Snakeheads” – decide to train her in their illegal ways, she sees an opportunity and is soon rising to the top of Chinatown’s smuggling business.
“I was drawn to this story and character not only because it ties into my history as a Chinese American but also as a New Yorker,” Liu tells Variety. “After reading Evan’s script, the hidden world of human smuggling was exposed to be right here in everyone’s backyard and the reality is at the same time fascinating and grotesque. This combination undoubtedly lays a landscape for a cinematic experience not to be forgotten.”
Shooting will have to wait until early next year thanks to her busy filming schedule on Elementary.