According to Variety, the lovely Ms. Charlize Theron is about to reunite with the producer behind "Monster" to deliver "The Ice at the Bottom of the World," a drama she'll produce and star in.

Deal puts Theron back in business with Picturehouse head Bob Berney, who ran Newmarket and distributed "Monster," the last film Theron produced and the one that won her the actress Oscar.

Just as Theron was a hands-on participant in that project, she has been similarly enterprising on "Ice." The film is set up to be bank-financed through New Line and handled as a negative pickup. In the deal orchestrated by One Entertainment and her attorney Steve Warren, Theron will wind up owning the negative.

For several years, Theron has controlled the rights to the drama, which Mark Richard scripted from his fictional short story.

It's set in the Chesapeake Bay, where a Navy captain reluctantly retires for health reasons. After years of neglecting his family while at sea, the grizzled veteran throws his dysfunctional family into chaos. Theron will play one of his daughters, who returns home a heroin addict and the single mother of a mixed-race child.

Theron, who most recently starred in "North Country" and "Aeon Flux," hasn't chosen the next film and "Ice" is a possibility for that slot, depending on how quickly a director and cast are set.