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Live Action Snow and the Seven Gets Director Francis Lawrence

by Alex Billington
August 1, 2007
Source: Hollywood Reporter

One of Walt Disney's upcoming features is a live-action film tentatively titled Snow and the Seven that is an East-meets-West take on the "Snow White" fairy tale. News today announces that filmmaker Francis Lawrence, the same who directed Constantine and the upcoming Will Smith film I Am Legend, has been signed on to direct. Both Constantine and I Am Legend are rather gritty not-for-kids films, so is this any indication on the direction Snow and the Seven will take, or is Lawrence just taking a high paying job to pay off some bills?

This fantasy adventure film centers on a British girl being raised in 19th century Hong Kong. When she realizes her destiny is to conquer an evil force, she must prepare to fight by being trained by seven Shaolin monks. The film has been in the works for quite a while, with a number of script re-writes. Disney says they may finally start shooting in 2008 in China. Yuen Woon-ping, known for the fights in Jet Li's Fearless, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, and many others, is acting as the fight choreographer.

There are a lot of particuliarly interesting elements to this project. They've got a good director, an interesting story to base it off of, and kung fu fighting from an incredible fight choreographer. I'm just concerned that this may turn into too much of a kids movie, when it sounds like it could be something much more grand and entertaining along the lines of Kung Fu Hustle.

I'm also wondering if this has anything to do with the other rumor that just popped up over at a few websites saying that Natalie Portman will play Snow White and Jet Li will play a "dwarf" in a futuristic adaptation of the "Snow White" story. Are these two one in the same? Who knows!

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