Live action kung fu version of Snow White gets green light

I had heard about this project a few years back, when Jet Li was attached to star opposite Natalie Portman. Then he went off to do The Forbidden Kingdom with Jackie Chan, and the project sat for a while. Now Sci-Fi Wire reports that screenwriter Scott Moore announced to reporters that he and writing partner Jon Lucas are moving ahead with the project, titled Snow and the Seven, during a group interview in Las Vegas yesterday, promoting The Hangover.

According to Moore, the film is a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, set in British colonial China, with seven Shaolin monks.

Natalie Portman is still apparently negotiating to appear in the film, with Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) directing. No word on whether Jet Li is still on board the project, which is seeking to get a release date sometime in 2010.