It’s been 13 years since The O.C. arrived, like a glistening pair of Oakleys falling from the sky out of nowhere, and became a near-immediate cultural phenomenon, thrusting its stars into the spotlight—none more dramatically than Mischa Barton, a London-born actress best known prior to that point as the “girl from The Sixth Sense.” Playing the very well-off and drama-prone Marissa Cooper, Barton herself quickly emerged as a fashion icon as well as a tabloid magnet. “Marissa Cooper” became shorthand for a kind of vaguely aloof, effortlessly cool young woman, the kind who wouldn’t dream of attending a high-school dance, and Barton took on something of a similar role in the Us Weekly schema.

Marissa was—and, given that The O.C. has recently been added to Hulu, no doubt attracting a new generation of fans, we should maybe write “spoiler alert” here—killed off in the show’s third season, and Barton’s career has since taken a few turns, as she has worked in television, film, and the theater, both in London and stateside, on projects of varying sizes. This spring, Barton has returned to the public eye in perhaps the most significant manner since The O.C., as a contestant on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars (she also stars in the horror film The Hoarder, out on DVD and digital video April 5). The first few weeks on Dancing with the Stars have been somewhat tough ones for Barton—paired on the show with Artem Chigvintsev—as she has received near-unanimous negative feedback from the judging panel, and, last week, she and Chigvintsev received the lowest marks from the judges of any pair, eliciting what looked to be tears afterward. But, like Marissa might have after some stressful fight with Ryan (leading her to sulk on that lifeguard’s chair on the beach, as ever), Barton survived last week’s show and is poised to bounce back and make a comeback this week.

We spoke to Barton last week about learning what it’s like to take part in Dancing with the Stars, why Lena Dunham inspires her, and whether or not she still catches reruns of The O.C.

VF.com: You’re in Los Angeles, doing rehearsals, right?

Mischa Barton: [Yeah,] but we might come next week to New York. And we might even be going to Madrid and stuff if we’re still around.

Madrid, that’d be so fun!

Yeah, drag him with me. Drag my dance partner with me.

This Dancing with the Stars experience must be pretty exciting and different for you. What is it like to be in it right now?

It’s so different. I was really excited to jump into something that was like . . . I love dance, I love art, and I’m really fascinated by it. And I wanted to try to do something completely out of my comfort zone, and have people see who I really am. I don’t think last week’s episode was very representative, what they ended up [airing] out of [all of the rehearsal footage]. . . . Because we’re doing like eight-hour days in the dance studio, and we’re having a lot of fun. Like, it’s really interesting. I’m really in awe of some of these competitive dancers, their bodies, the connection between mind and body . . . it’s all very interesting to me and it is very foreign. I just kind of threw myself head first into it. I [had just] come off of a movie. I landed in the airport and literally went right to meet these guys and get into it.

I feel like I would be terrified to do this.

It was one of those just . . . jump ship, you know—I got this fortune: “Don’t wait for your ship to come in; run out to it.” I was like, Yeah, that sounds about right. Why not? That’s pretty funny. Let’s do it.

Were your family and friends surprised you were doing the show?

Yeah, I didn’t really tell that many people. I told my core group of friends. I expected people to be, like, “Whoa, that’s so crazy.” Actually everybody’s been really fascinated by it. It’s been an interesting bonding experience. And people are into it that you would never think would be. It’s been a real eye-opener for me. I kind of live under a rock, to be honest. I very much stay in my little film world. I’m not like massively into these big shows. I’ve been really surprised how many people are really involved in it and know about it.

You’re totally right. All of a sudden you’ll find out someone is an obsessive watcher and you’ll have no idea.

Unless you’re a part of it in some way before. I was talking to Joey Fatone yesterday, and it was a whole eye-opener, too. He’s been in, like, the all-stars version, and I was like, Whoa.

Is there any part of it, the performative aspect, that reminds you of how you’d take on a film role?

That’s how I’ve approached it, for better or worse. That’s kind of how I approach things, period. You bring to it who you are. For an actor, you approach it like an actor. The football players are already very physical; they approach it like learning a routine. . . . As an actor, I came in and I was like, O.K., I can see the story in this; I like the song selection; I like the clothing; I like the drama and I like the flair. . . . Because it’s really hard to learn ballroom dance in a couple of weeks, if you have no dance training whatsoever like me. So we approached it with a lot of drama. It’s just been a very interesting experience. And then before you know it, that dance is over and you're on to the next one. You know, then you’re learning to cha cha!

You’ve done a few horror movies in recent years, including The Hoarder. Are you drawn to those kind of scripts?

Well, I’m drawn to drama, period. And I hadn’t really done any horror films before. And then I did a couple that just kind of fell into my lap, and they were interesting stories. [The Hoarder] was really fun to make. We made it in the U.K. We shot the exteriors in New York. I did all the stunts in it myself. It was a pretty intense experience.

What television shows or movies are you especially into or which are inspiring you these days?

I’m into Girls. I’m into Vinyl, a little bit. I’m so busy … I’m into dance, is what I’m into. I’m living under a rock. But yeah, I don’t know.

What about music-wise?

Yeahhhh, for sure, but let me think what. I’m really obsessed with that Clare whatever song that . . . I just had it up on my phone; hold on a second. Clare Maguire. I’ve been listening to a lot of Adele and Angie Stone and that kind of stuff. But I’m always into rock ’n’ roll and indie rock. It’s kind of a mixture of things.

Do you have goals, or things that are still on your checklist you want to accomplish?

I’ve been writing and developing a lot. More on the producing side of things, and I could act in them as well, but it’s not necessarily my focus. I just think a lot of the production people I’ve met, they’re very interested in developing with actors these days. I’ve been more interested in finding material and building it up. I think people like Lena Dunham who are so amazing have really made that possible, especially for women.

Is it annoying to you when people bring up The O.C. at this point? How do you look back on that whole experience?

No, I’m never annoyed by it. It was just so long ago: it really had its time and place. It changed pop culture. It’s amazing all the things that kind of spawned out of it. So, no, I’m not annoyed by it, but I’m just like . . . people love to talk [about it].

Do you ever catch reruns if it’s on, or go back and watch old episodes?

No, I don’t, but not for any particular reason. I know It’s recently on television again so everybody’s been watching it again. So people at work will be like, “I was watching you this morning!”