A true Hollywood fantasy - Snow White and the seven Shaolin monks
Snow White turned into a somewhat tough character in the latest Shrek movie (left). However, if Disney has their way, they plan to make her a flesh-and-blood, kung-fu-fighting heroine.
According to several internet sites and trade journal Hollywood Reporter, a live action movie is in the works on an east-meets-west adventure about a British girl raised in 19th-century Hong Kong who discovers her destiny is to defeat an evil queen. In prelude for the big battle, she will be trained by seven Shaolin monks.
The tentative title is Snow and the Seven. Attached to the project is director Francis Lawrence, who directed the Keanu Reeves' flop Constantine.
However, Yuen Wo-ping is supposedly going to be hired as action choreographer. The principals apparently hope to shoot it early next year on the mainland. The rumour is that Jet Li has been approached to play one of the dwarfs, I mean, monks; while Natalie Portman will be Snow.
An early version of the plot suggests Snow holds one piece of a broken magic mirror that the evil queen, also Snow's stepmother, is eager to reclaim to restore its powers. We can see it already: 'Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's wushu style we know.'
