As reported in the Echo, the former OC actress is taking the lead role in the film Malice in Sunderland – a modern-day re-working of Lewis Carroll's classic tale, based on Wearside.

The project had been due to start in 2003 with Ozzy Osborne's daughter Kelly in the lead role, but was dogged by lack of funding.

But producer and financier Future Films joined forces with U.S. producers Pierce/Williams Entertainment, and now shooting is set to begin in May or June.

Albert Martinez-Martin, of Future Films, said: "We are going through casting options at the moment.

"We are preparing the paperwork for the finance, and we'll decide on locations pretty soon."

Malice in Sunderland follows the fortunes of American law student Alice. Knocked down by a black cab, she wakes with amnesia in a world that is a million miles from home – Wonderland.

Mr Martinez-Martin added: "She's dragged through an underworld filled with twisted individuals and low-lifes by cab driver Whitey (the white rabbit).

"She needs to find out who she is, where she's from and use what wits she has left to get back home in one piece."

The film is being directed by Simon Fellows, who has previously directed action movies Until Death (out this year) and Second in Command, both starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and 7 Seconds starring Wesley Snipes.

The screenplay has been penned by Jayson Rothwell.

London-born Mischa Barton shot to fame as pretty rich girl Marissa Cooper in California-based teen drama The OC.

The hit show lost audiences and was axed last year after her character was killed off.

Other stars attached to Malice in Sunderland are to yet to be announced.