In October 2021, actors Jung Yu-mi and Lee Sun-kyun confirmed their casting as married couple Soo-jin and Hyeon-soo in a horror film written and directed by Jason Yu, and produced by Lewis Pictures.

[8] Regarding the story, before turning it into a nightmare, Jason Yu was inspired by the moments when he was preparing to marry his girlfriend of seven years: "In writing, my goal was, initially, of course, to make a fun genre film.

[12][13] On 17 April 2023, Sleep was selected to be screened in the Critics' Week section at the 76th Cannes Film Festival[14][15] where it had its world premiere on 21 May 2023.

[16] The screening took place at Espace Miramar, in the presence of Jason Yu, Jung Yu-mi and Lee Sun-kyun.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Elegantly executed, Sleep builds prosperously upon a familiar premise and delivers rousing chills.

"[20] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.