it looks like a new film version of white snake is in the makings:

Lady White Snake will be the first English-language film adaptation of the legend. The tale is about a white snake fairy transforming herself into a beautiful woman who then falls in love with a young scholar. But the romance is forbidden by the human world and also hindered by a malicious Buddhist monk.

The first film adaptation of the story was the Japanese-language Madame White Snake (1956) by director Shiro Toyoda. In 1962, there was Mandarin Hong Kong movie of a similar story. The most recent adaptation has been Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's (?}?J) Green Snake (1993), starring Maggie Cheung (?i???).

Because the movie will be in English, Reynolds said the cast would have to be internationally known actors.

According to Hou, the first candidate for the monk Fa-hai (?o??), the Buddhist with supernatural powers, will be Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings movies.

it sounds like it could be pretty horrible. there are two things here that have alarm bells ringing in my ears, the fact that it'll be shot in english, and that they want to have an international cast(read: white actors). why would you consider such a thing in a story that takes place in ancient china? via life of brian.