Mischa Barton will take the lead role in the film

Mischa Barton will star in the film - described by production company Future Films as a contemporary take on Lewis Carroll's classic tale.

Barton will play a US student who, having been hit by a London taxi, finds herself disoriented in Sunderland.

Filming on the project is to start on Wearside later this year.

The lead role was to have been played by singer Kelly Osbourne, who announced recently she was pulling out of the project.

A spokesman for Future Films said: "Malice in Sunderland follows an American student Alice who ventures through a macabre underworld of characters reminiscent of those made popular in Carroll's tale."

The film is to be directed by British newcomer Simon Fellows.

The project has been welcomed by Northern Film and Media, which is tasked with attracting productions to the region.