It’s not every day that an Oscar-winning actress with a dream project burning a hole in her pocket for years hires a top British director who hasn’t made a film in five years to direct it.
But that’s exactly what’s happened to Charlize Theron, who has managed to persuade Alan Parker to take on megaphone duties for Ice At The Bottom Of The World.
Adapted by Mark Richard from his short story collection, the previously announced Ice charts the story of a Navy captain who comes home after a tour to find his daughter (Theron) is addicted to heroin and is the single mother of a child.
"When she told me she was interested in Alan Parker, I was really excited," Theron’s collaborator, Picturehouse owner and producer Bob Berney told The Hollywood Reporter. "He is one of our most illustrious filmmakers who time and time again has shown his ability to mine true emotion from characters. When you go back to The Commitments or even Shoot The Moon you see how passionate he is about family stories. He'll bring amazing storytelling experience to this film, which is an uncompromising drama, tinged with black humour, about the way people try to connect at times when those connections have broken down."
Parker will is busy re-writing the script and will aim to start shooting in the autumn.