From Orange County to Ramsay Street: Mischa Barton makes Australian soap debut Neighbors last week, bringing an air of mystery to Erinsborough as the classy Reece Sinclair.
Barton, 37, hasn’t had a recurring TV role since 2009. Beautiful lifebut she felt the urge to play Reece in the Neighbors revival on Amazon Freevee.
“I really like this Reece Sinclair character,” Barton tells PEOPLE. “At this point, I think it really comes down to whether it’s a character that I feel is similar to me and that I can play, something that I want to do. There’s nothing worse than being thrown into something where you show up to work every day and it’s hard for you to play that character.”
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British-born Barton says Neighbors in fact “he offered me to come a few times over the years and it wasn’t the right time and they weren’t the right characters.”
The actress explains that sometimes she chooses roles because she can relate to the character on a personal level, and “sometimes it’s because it’s as far away from you as possible or it’s something you want to immerse yourself in.”
With Reece, “I felt like I knew the people who she was in my life,” Barton says. “I ran into Reeces. She has a lot of money and has always had to control everything and has an almost aloof, not very practical view of the world because she’s just so busy, constantly running companies and getting things done. So I had characters and people in my head that I wanted to base it on.”
Mischa Barton and Xavier Molyneux in ‘Neighbours’.
Amazon Studios
Barton recorded Neighbors in Australia and now says that she “fell in love” with that country. “I got a little house while I was there, so that was a lot of fun,” she says. “I had my own little garden and going down to the Mornington Peninsula was wonderful.”
The former teen star even plans to set an upcoming project in Australia.
“I’m in the process of developing this rom-com that I really think I want to do, and it’s set in that part of the world,” Barton says. “This is such a beautiful part of Australia – you really have to see it to believe it.”
For Barton, an ideal day off includes “exercising, reading a book, hanging out with the dog [and] cook something.”
But right now he wants to focus on work.
“It was mostly work, travel and family,” says Barton. “It’s definitely not calming down or anything like that. Just being here in the UK with my family has been amazing.”
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Benjamin McKenzie and Mischa Barton in ‘The OC’.
Courtesy: Everett Collection
Barton also reconnected with what she called “my OC family” on Instagram thanks to the show, which celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this year, Rachel Bilson and Melinda Clarke doing a rewatch podcast and Welcome to OC. an oral history book coming out in November.
“Lately, we’ve been in contact again only because of such things, the book,… OC podcast; we all kind of reconnected,” says Barton. “I have to see Tate [Donovan] and Melinda personally not too long ago and we did a podcast with Rachel, so we talked a lot. It’s been great talking to them lately and I’m really proud of them.”
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The Hills: New beginnings alum says she wishes she could have joined her co-stars at a rally in support of SAG-AFTRA earlier this month, but thinks “it was really sweet” that they came together for the cause. “A little FOMO, but what can you do?” says Barton.
Given the love that still exists for OC, Barton can never fully leave her Marissa Cooper character behind. “A lot of people are still tragically upset about Marissa’s death,” Barton says. “I have a lot of fashion fans who love the clothes, hair and makeup. But a lot of people who are still clinging to the fact that Marissa died.”
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Neighbors currently streaming on Amazon Freevee.
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Source: HIS Education