Tarsem Singh will direct one of the competing Snow White movies

UPDATE: The Snow White rivalry is indeed underway. The Wrap says that director Tarsem Singh has officially signed on to direct Relativity’s 3D version of the fairy tale, with production expected to start in March. (Universal has already schedued their SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN for December 21, 2012.)

Previously:

October 12, 2010: The only thing hotter than vampires in Hollywood right now seems to be fairy tales. And why not? Almost everyone is familiar with them, and since most are in the public domain, studios can do what they want with the material without having to worry about creative rights.

SNOW WHITE is the latest rage, with one pricey deal now facing competition from another. SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, from writer Evan Daugherty and director Rupert Sanders, just recently went to Universal for no small sum. But now it’s facing competition from another high-profile take on the tale, Relativity’s THE BROTHERS GRIMM: SNOW WHITE.

Relativity is pursuing director Tarsem Singh for their 3D version which, considering his work on THE CELL and THE FALL (and whatever he’s done on the upcoming mythology movie IMMORTALS), would obviously put the focus more on the visual kazowie than the human (er, dwarf) elements.

So now the race is on… and both side are reportedly “checking the availability of stars suitable to play Snow White, including Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johannson, and Natalie Portman.”