Disney preps martial arts "Snow White"

By Cathy Dunkley and Claude Brodesser

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Disney is negotiating with the Chinese choreographer of groundbreaking action films "The Matrix" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," to direct a live-action take on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

The project was until recently known as "Snow White and the Seven Shao Lin." (For the martial arts illiterate, that's a reference to the Shao Lin monks of China, who became masters of fighting concepts so they could better understand the source of violence and overcome it.)

The now-untitled family action-adventure picture will mark the English-language directing debut of Yuen Wo Ping, a major name in Asia who is currently wrapping up work for Quentin Tarantino on "Kill Bill," Yuen is already having helmed some 27 pictures there including recent Dimension import chopsocky "Iron Monkey" (originally released in 1993). He is also credited for having discovered such now-familiar talents as Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li and Jackie Chan.

The "Snow" update is set in the 1890s and follows a woman who returns home to Hong Kong to attend her father's funeral after 20 years abroad. She discovers that her stepmother is plotting against her and escapes to mainland China, where she seeks solace with seven Shao Lin monks who, in turn, come to believe the woman holds the fate of the world in her hands and protect her. Josh Harman and Scott Elder wrote the script.