Many stars of "The O.C." spent last week celebrating the Fox teen drama's 10th anniversary with videos, tweets and interviews, but Mischa Barton, who played leading lady Marissa Cooper on the series, wasn't exactly joining in.
"I was like, 'I hope everyone doesn’t start watching it again!'" the actress, now 27, told Us Weekly of the anniversary.
Some might guess that Barton's feelings toward "The O.C." have to do with the fact that her character was killed off at the end of Season 3, which turned out to be the series' penultimate season. But "The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz told The Huffington Post in a 10th anniversary interview last week that there was no bad blood over Marissa's death, which he called "the biggest thing that ever happened on the show."
"It was a hundred percent a creative decision for the show and it was born out of both feeling creatively like it was the direction the show needed to head and also, quite frankly, a function of needing to do something big to shake up the show at the end of that third season to both get the show to come back for a fourth season and, I think, to give the show a real creative jolt in Season 4 and move the show in its own surprising, unexpected direction," Schwartz explained. "But Mischa showed up every day and did her job and did a great job and worked really hard so it had nothing to do with her."
As for an "O.C." reunion, Barton said, "Never say never," a sentiment fellow alum Peter Gallagher (Sandy Cohen) shared with HuffPost Live last month. "I think things have to feel right and it doesn't feel right," Barton told Us Weekly. "Before 'The O.C.' I was on track to do some great films, as well, and one thing happens and then I got this mega stardom all from this show. It is what it is, but I'm not looking to get sucked back into the limelight of it."
At the risk of connecting too many dots, Barton's statements about "The O.C." seem to give a bit of insight into a not-so-flattering comment Tate Donovan, who played Marissa's father Jimmy Cooper, made about the young "O.C." cast during an interview with Vulture last week.
"The kids on the show had developed a really bad attitude," Donovan said. "They just didn’t want to be doing the show anymore. It was pretty tough; they were very tough to work with. The adults were all fantastic, total pros ... But you know how it is with young actors -- and I know because I was one of them once. When you achieve a certain amount of success, you want to be doing something else. I mean, one of them turned to me and said, 'This show is ruining my film career,' and he had never done a film before. You just can’t help but sort of think that your life and your career are going to go straight up, up, up. So they were very difficult."
Would you want to see an "O.C." reunion? Are you surprised by Barton's "O.C." statements? Sound off in the comments!
