Yuen Woon-ping
THE MOVIE: Commercial director Michael Gracey is helming an East-meets-West take on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves for Disney, titled The Order of the Seven. Saoirse Ronan (Hanna, The Lovely Bones) stars as Snow White but this adaptation of the story will place more of an emphasis on the seven “dwarves,” who are now full-bodied warriors. The film has been in development since 2002 but is slated for release sometime in 2013. Cityonfire.com readers will be most interested to hear that Yuen Woo-Ping has been circling the project as a fight choreographer.
Updates: The Hollywood Reporter lists Scott Rudin and Andrew Gunn as producers. On board as executive producer is Gunn Films’ Ann Marie Sanderlin, along with Anthony Wong and Dede Nickerson. One of the Toy Story 3 writers did a polish on the script.
BREAKING NEWS: The Hollywood Reporter says that the seven male characters won’t be vertically challenged. The premise has also now been updated accordingly:
In this iteration, the seven are a 19th century-set disparate band of international warriors belonging to a centuries-old order who have lost their way. They meet with an Englishwoman (Ronan) who is being chased by an ancient evil, and she proves to be the catalyst for their redemption.
The film will still be set in China but have fighters from America and Russia, each with their own “unique fighting style.” More info at IndieWire.
