Looking to recharge her career, Charlize Theron is taking matters into her own hands by both starring in and producing the indie drama "The Ice at the Bottom of the World." Theron has controlled movie rights for years, with Mark Richard basing the script on a short story. According to Variety, "Ice" focuses on a navy captain who reluctantly retires for health reasons after years of neglecting his family while at sea. The grizzled veteran's homecoming throws his family into chaos. Theron will play one of the captain's daughters, who returns home a heroin addict and the single mother of a mixed-race child (cliches abound!). "Ice" isn't guaranteed to be Theron's next film, because a director still hasn't been chosen. She may fit in an additional picture before "Ice" begins production later this year.

The creators of "Chicken Run" and "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" are looking to take on "The Tortoise and the Hare." According to Variety, Aardman Animations will revive production on "Hare" which originally began in 2001 until script problems halted the shoot. The clay-animated movie is based on the classic story of the overconfident Hare in a race against the slow, but steady, Tortoise. The company's next project is "Flushed Away," which is also the company's first CGI-animated film. DreamWorks Animation is releasing "Flushed Away" on Nov. 3, but there is no word whether they will distribute "Hare."

Next Column: Albert Brooks dares to make "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World"; Golden Globes hangover; and more.

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