Malice won't have its way with Sunderland anymore. The BBC reports that the upcoming, and long-delayed new take on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Malice in Sunderland, will not be filmed on Wearside, and it has got a new name -- Malice in Wonderland.

The film was hoping for a £250,000 bit of cash from the area, but the region's film group said that their cash goes to talent from the region. So, with that hefty bit of change biting the dust, the film will now be shot in the Southend with a new title. However, producer Albert Martinez-Martin says that the name change is only due to the play on words: "The title was also changed as everyone in the UK would know Sunderland but outside UK they wouldn't. I also thought two puns in one title were one too many." Do you really need to know what Sunderland is to enjoy, or recognize the title?

Because I watch The O.C. on Fox (Yes, it's true. Do your worst) I do know who one of the teen female stars of that show is -- Mischa Barton (super-cute Rachel Bilson is the other one, btw). Now that Barton's character on The O.C., high school senior Marissa Cooper, died at the end of last season and Barton has left the show, she is setting her sights on Hollywood and will attempt to make the transition away from her recent career as a teen TV actress.

Previously, Barton appeared in film such as Pups, Notting Hill, and Tart but always played a teenager (or younger) because, well, she was a teenager. Now that she's grown up quite a bit, she's beginning her transition by taking on more mature roles in upcoming film such as Virgin Territory with Hayden Christensen and Closing the Ring directed by Sir Richard Attenborough -- the Oscar winning director of Ghandi. And now, according to production weekly, she has added yet another role to her slate of upcoming "mature" projects -- director Simon Fellows' Malice in Sunderland.

Barton will star in the film, a modern take on Alice in Wonderland written by Jayson Rothwell, as Alice, an American student in London who, when she is accidentally hit by a taxi, finds herself in the strange world of Sunderland. In order for her to find her way home, Alice is forced to navigate a strange and fantastic world of quirky characters and precarious situations. I have to admit a certain fondness for Mischa Barton having seen her performance in the film Pups many years ago. That movie wasn't great, but she was great in it and showed a maturity and talent I haven't really seen her show very much since that film.

On The O.C. Barton didn't really have the best material to work with and let's face it, the show, while funny and often pretty good, is no Ghandi. Perhaps with her latest choice of roles, material and directors, she can really become the actress and star she has the potential to be. Shooting on Malice in Sunderland is expected to start early next year in the United Kingdom.

Am I wrong, or does does Mischa Barton have something?