With the upcoming fantasy flick “Penelope,” Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon took on one role elaborate in different ways than her previous performances: that of producer and, in addition, of co-star.

“Penelope,” a fantasy film to be released in U. S. theaters Friday, Feb. 29, tells the story of one kind-hearted girl cursed by a witch to bear a pig nose until her own Prince Charming comes along.

Christina Ricci stars as the bewitched girl, while James McAvoy, star of the Academy Award-nominated film “Atonement,” stars as the fairytale’s Prince Charming, the man who sees beyond Penelope’s otherness and helps her overcome her own wounds.

The petite Reese Witherspoon, who earned an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2005 for her portrayal of June Carter in “Walk the Line,” fell in love with the idea some four years ago and even considered playing Penelope herself.

However, as she explained to the Associated Press, other projects prevented her from taking on the role and finally, as producer, she dipped her fingers in more pies and enjoyed the creative process behind the making of a movie more thoroughly.

While she does act in “Penelope,” as the title character’s generous friend Annie, Witherspoon also commanded casting and busied herself with finding the script and a director.

She and her Type A Films partner, Jennifer Simpson, worked four years to develop and make “Penelope.”

“This was the first film that we found the script, found the director and did all the heavy lifting,” she told the Associated Press.

Witherspoon explained her commitment to the project: “It had a really great female character who was strong, ambitious, but definitely had a journey to go through to get to the place where she would find herself.”

“Penelope” was directed by Mark Palansky, from a screenplay by Leslie Caveny and based on a book of the same name by Marilyn Kaye. The cast includes Catherine O'Hara and Richard E. Grant as Penelope’s parents, and Peter Dinklage in a sort of villainous role.