The former O.C. star is lined up to play the lead in a remake of Alice in Wonderland – called Malice in Sunderland. Mischa Barton will star in the film, described by production company Future Films as a contemporary take on Lewis Carroll’s classic tale. Barton will play a US student who, having been hit by a London taxi, finds herself disoriented in Sunderland. Filming on the project is to start on Wearside later this year.

A spokesperson for Future Films said: “Malice in Sunderland follows an American student Alice who ventures through a macabre underworld of characters reminiscent of those made popular in Carroll’s tale.”