Of all the pop acts to inspire a coming-of-age tale of love and friendship, Russian faux-lesbian duo Tatu would seem among the unlikeliest.

But actress Mischa Barton clearly disagrees. According to Variety magazine, the ex-OC star has just signed up to play the lead in a screen adaptation of Tatu Come Back, a novel by Aleksey Mitrofanov. Barton, best known for her role as The OC's Marissa Cooper, will play an American teenager living in Moscow who bonds with a local girl over their shared love of Tatu.

According to Variety, the girls' friendship is "set against a background of music, internet chatrooms and hedonistic Russian nightlife" and is based on real events. The film would seem a surprise choice for Barton, who last year attended London acting school RADA, given the questionable nature of Tatu themselves. The 90s pop band was comprised of two teenagers, Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina, who dressed as schoolgirls and claimed to be lesbians in a relationship with one another. Despite their terrible music, the pair unsurprisingly got a lot of publicity, but it became apparent that their sapphic relationship was just a marketing ploy when Volkova became pregnant in 2003.

Barton is reported to be taking the role very seriously and filming is expected to begin at the end of this month.