A while ago I wrote about the seemingly strange move of Roland Joffé directing a film based on the Russian pop group t.A.T.u., you remember the controversial young female duo who portrayed themselves as lesbian schoolgirls for their first worldwide release? Now it seems as though Mischa Barton has signed up for the lead on the film.

The story is adapted from the novel "t.A.T.u come back" by Aleksey Mitrofanov and tells the story of an American teenager in Moscow who befriends a local girl over the Internet and begin sharing their obsession with t.A.T.u. They run off together to see a t.A.T.u concert and that's where events start taking a turn for the worst as one of them begins to get involved in drugs. I'll not go further for fear of spoiling the plot. Oh, and the lesbian love you might be expecting to see? There's not going to be much of that as the story will concentrate on relationships and the characters.

According to Variety Shantel VanSanten, Anton Yelchin, Alex Kaluzhsky and Helena Mattsson are also signed up to star.

It still seems incredible to me that this story is being turned into a film by Roland Joffé, and also that Mishca Barton has signed on to lead the film. Still, it does suggest that the material is strong and that the coming of age tale offers something a lot more than merely promotion for the band.