Mischa Barton talks returning to TV, joining The Hills and reclaiming her It girl status

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24th Jun 2019

She was the It girl of the early 2000s who defined California cool. Since her career-making role as teenage dream Marissa Cooper on , Mischa Barton has endured everything from a revenge porn sex tape scandal to battling personal demons (including a DUI and subsequent mugshot), that became regular tabloid headlines.

Now, the British-born actress, 33, is returning to Hollywood: this time, in possibly her most challenging role to date, as herself, on MTV’s rebooted (the series premieres in Australia tomorrow).

“It feels like things come full circle,” Barton told Vogue in Los Angeles. “was the scripted show that started and . Everybody is larger than life. I’ve known them (cast) ….  for a long time and to actually be working with them is wild.”

While Barton confesses she didn’t watch the original series, she said she was “super aware of who they (The Hills cast) were.” In fact, she often found herself partying in the same Los Angeles hot-spots where cast were shooting. “When we were filming () around LA, and going out to events and parties, I had a couple of friends who would get so obsessed, ‘That’s the reality crew from The Hills,’” Barton said. “And we would go over and knock on the production van and go, ‘What drama is going on at this party?’ I mean, I’ve known of them forever.”

“Did I sit down and watch the show? Honestly, no. I started to when I signed on and then I realised, it’s 10 years ago. Everybody is so different, there’s no point. That drama is all behind them … well, you’d it was behind them.”

Producers caused a minor controversy in ads for the revival starring original cast members Whitney Port, Audrina Patridge and Heidi Pratt, then flashed the words “introducing Mischa Barton” on-screen. Of we all know who Mischa Barton is. The Hills, the non-scripted (but maybe, almost certainly, semi-scripted) reality series about living and dating in Hollywood, ended in 2010 after six seasons.

The revival picks up from where the original left off (Audrina and Justin Bobby drama and all), and adds some new faces to the group – including Barton and bad boy Brandon Lee, the model son of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.

So where does Barton fit? “It’s really about seeing me come back to Los Angeles and integrate into this group,” she said. “In the beginning, it’s more about getting everyone back together and you see who I split off with, become more friendly with. It’s a lot of, like, hanging out. They try to show what it’s like for me as a real actress, they want to see a peek into everyone’s lives as well. There’s definitely no shortage of having fun.”

Shooting the new series, Barton found herself back in the Hollywood party scene like it was 2006 again (during Barton’s party girl phase, she was often captured by the paparazzi leaving Hollywood nightclubs with BFFs Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan).

Now back in that LA scene for professional purposes, Barton said the cast “shoot at all these different restaurants, nightclubs and places that you don’t necessarily get to go to”.

“It’s super glamorous. Even if we just go on a short trip like Vegas, we get taken care of. It’s fun stuff that maybe I would not do in my own life, necessarily, but it’s fun as a group,” Barton said. “Whitney and I were like, ‘We’re really too old for this!’ But I guess it’s good because we’re out of the house and it’s fun to go back out.”

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“I think the mums (Heidi, Audrina and Whitney) especially feel like, ‘I wouldn’t necessarily be doing this on my Friday night but it’s quite nice because I let my kid go to the babysitter for a night.’”

Through Barton is also itching to reclaim her style muse status. In the pre-Instagram era, The Hills had huge influence on clothing, hair and beauty trends – whatever Lauren Conrad and co. wore, we wanted.

The same could be said for Barton. As Marissa on she wore the now-iconic vanilla-coloured Chanel prom dress and a blue-and-white Marc Jacobs polka dotted sundress, as well as some forgettable ensembles (case in point: a satin dress over a pair of jeans). “I think it’s definitely synonymous with things like The Hills, fashion,” Barton said.

“Time is what cures all that though. Like, I guess was extremely curated and people were throwing Chanel and Dior at us whereas, The Hills is like, real people’s style. You can see how much the girls care about fashion and I do too.”

Speaking to Barton, you get the sense that she is also hoping her move into reality TV will also propel her back into acting. “I did just shoot a small role in something, which was really fun,” Barton said, noting that the project is still a secret. “It’s quite cool and it was a tiny role for me, but just fun to be back in scripted as well as non-scripted.”

“I took a little break, it’s been a year and a half since I’ve done a feature.”

One thing’s for certain: Mischa Barton is well and truly back.

The Hills: New Beginnings