This rumour of a kung fu Snow White film has been kicking around for years. It always sounded ridiculous and when Conan mentioned it while interviewing Natalie, she totally laughed off the idea. It’s currently listed in the unlikely category in our Rumoured Projects page, but maybe I need to bump it up a bit after this new Sci-Fi Wire article.

Screenwriter Scott Moore told reporters that he and writing partner Jon Lucas wrote a draft of a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs update called Snow and the Seven.

“It’s a retelling of Snow White in British colonial China with seven Shaolin monks,” Moore said in a group interview in Las Vegas on Sunday while promoting The Hangover.

Since the Moore/Lucas draft, new writers have been hired to tailor the script to potential star Natalie Portman.

“I guess they’re flirting with Natalie Portman and have been meeting with her,” Moore said. “They’re now doing a draft for her character with a writer who’s really good with character stuff. That’s my understanding of it.”

At least their draft was enough to attach a high-profile director, Moore said. “That was a really fun script, and we turned in a script that got Francis Lawrence [I Am Legend] attached and excited about it,” he said. “That is out of our hands at the moment. We had a really good experience on that.” Snow and the Seven is eyeing a 2010 release.

On the bright side, at least (if true) Natalie is trying to strengthen the characters. Also, if Francis Lawrence is still attached I’d feel confident it wouldn’t be awful. I thought he made Constantine and I Am Legend a lot better than they would have been in other hands.

I’m going to try and get some info from my sources.