According To Stanley Ho’s Family, Making A Movie On His Life Is “Disrespectful” And “Will Never Happen”

A little over a day after Stanley Ho passed away, Chinese-American filmmaker Dayyan Eng declared on Weibo that he’d love to make a movie about the casino king's life. The director also felt that Hongkong star Daniel Wu would be a perfect fit to play the mogul himself based on their uncanny resemblance.

His post, however, hasn’t been all that well-received. One unimpressed netizen wrote: “He passed away just a few days ago and you’re already so excited about shooting a movie.”

Dayyan personally responded to this comment and explained, “Why did you believe what [the media] blindly wrote? When did I say I was going to film this movie? Please look at what I wrote again and digest it.”

However, not everyone was quite as convinced about his response, as they pointed out that his original post — “Come! Let’s make a movie together about the gambling king one day!” — could be interpreted as him putting his dibs on making the film in the distant future.

One netizen wrote, “I don’t quite understand. Does he think that netizens are stupid or blind?” Another wrote, “He’s the one who said that he’d want to make a movie about the casino king. He might not have meant harm, but [Stanley] just passed away.”

Some also took offence at how Dayyan included a grinning emoji to his original post. “You should stay quiet if you don’t know how to speak well. He just passed away and you added [the grinning emoji]. What’s that supposed to mean?” questioned one netizen. 

Reports now claim that members of the Ho family have heard of Dayyan’s big screen dream, and have expressed their distaste. Stanley's immediate family reportedly called the idea of the movie “disrespectful”, especially since the family was not contacted or consulted about the film. They also added that a movie “will never happen”, and that they would reject all future requests to make a biopic or a TV series about the late mogul.