Tarsem Singh to direct Snow White

It looks like we have a studio race on our hands. Last week we heard Universal were after names such as Johnny Depp, Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie for Snow White and the Huntsman, and now according to THR Tarsem Singh (Immortals) has just signed on to direct a Snow White movie for Relativity Media. But which one will get into production first?

Snow White and the Huntsman, as you can probably guess, focuses on the Huntsman who is hired by the evil queen to track down her runaway stepdaughter. After realizing the queen intends to kill Snow White, he helps her escape, and the pair go on the run. Singh’s Snow White movie begins with the evil stepmother killing Snow White’s father and destroying the kingdom. Snow White then bands together with a gang of seven quarrelsome dwarves to reclaim what is rightfully hers.

Both projects are aiming to shoot early next year but both are currently without a cast, so both will be battling to get names involved so they can get going. Interestingly Tarsem Singh was in a similar battle with Clash of the Titans in 2008 with his greek epic War of the Gods (now known as Immortals). Warner Bros. got the head start as Singh had funding problems, but we will get to seeing his take on Ancient Greece next November.

I’m not sure which version I would prefer to see more, and it will probably depend on the cast involved. There is potential for both to suck if they are rushing into production, but the first one out of the block will have the advantage.