I can think of a lot worse than being stalked by a girl who looked like Mischa Barton. (Like being stalked by a guy who looked like Barton Fink.) Yup, the girl we all remember as playing Marissa Cooper on The O.C. is preparing to show us that hot girls can be stalkers too by signing on to star in the indie thriller Homecoming. What, you've never had a hot girl stalk you? Seriously? You should try on my job for a day -- hot girls are absolutely infatuated with overweight, balding internet film writers. It's insane! But if we can get serious for a moment: Variety tells us the actress will star alongside Matt Long, Jessica Stroup and Michael Landes, while Morgan J. Freeman (Hurricane) will direct off a script from Frank Hannah (The Cooler).

Homecoming will tell the all-too-familiar tale of a former small-town golden boy and his new girlfriend who decide to visit his hometown when -- holy bleeping crap -- they discover his high school sweetheart (Barton) is, like, totally obsessed with the guy still. Variety calls it an "unhealthy obsession," while I say the more the merrier. No word on a production schedule or a release date, but it should be fun to watch the girl from The O.C. go absolutely nutty over a guy. I want her doing bad things. Very bad things. Despite being pretty well known, Barton still has not managed to land a role bigger than "insert random indie title here." Perhaps she's going about her career in the right way, or perhaps she's just not appealing enough for the bigger stuff. What say you?

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?

Though we're not sure where or how they received this news, the UK site Life Style Extra is reporting that Rachel Bilson has nabbed the coveted role of Wonder Woman in Joss Whedon's upcoming superhero flick. As of this minute, Warner Bros. has refused to comment on the rumor, so take this news with a huge grain of shady salt, folks.

However, if true, Bilson, who is best known for her role as Summer Roberts on The O.C. (where, coincidentally, she once dressed up as Wonder Woman for a sexy seduction scene on the television show), has beat out a number of actresses including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cameron Diaz, Kate Beckinsale, Charisma Carpenter and, yes, even her OC co-star Mischa Barton. Personally, I've never seen the girl in action, and so I can't form an opinion based solely on her acting ability. Yet, she sure does look awfully hot the part, and if Whedon happened upon the above-mentioned seduction scene, then perhaps that's what convinced him. So, what do you think?