Mischa Barton has been doing the Sundance press circuit over the last few days, promoting her movie “Assassination of a High School President” – which is actually getting some good reviews. But what she really wants you to know is that her empty-headed, party girl image is undeserved. I never knew Mischa Barton was so freakishly intelligent. According to an interview she just gave, she’s down to earth and smart. Mischa described herself as, “really academic.” And by that, it appears that she meant she has at some points in her life gone to school. She doesn’t give a single example of how she was academic, nor does she say anything that would lead a reasonable person to believe she possesses an ounce of intelligence beyond the very basics that get you through life. You know, the breathe in, breathe out, repeat thing. Not dodging in front of fast moving cars. She seems to grasp the basics that have kept our species alive, but not much else.

Mischa Barton didn’t seem so smart when she was arrested recently for suspicion of DUI. However, the star of the upcoming (and very buzzed about) “Assassination of a High School President” insists that despite her character’s mischievous ways, she was actually “academic” in her school days.

“I went to public school in New York until I was about 15, so I had a definite school experience, the whole nine yards,” the now super-blond starlet told Pop Tarts, curled up on the couch in her Uggs at Sundance.

“But I loved school, though. I was actually really academic, so I liked it … it was a lot of fun.”

[From Fox News]

School does tend to be a lot of fun when you skip most of it to film an occasional scene with a cute boy and hang out with your on-set tutor. Mischa goes on to talk about her upbringing in the film industry. Be warned, she uses the word “kinetic.” I think she most likely learned it from her Word-a-Day toilet paper.

And even though Mischa spent several seasons on the small screen as Marissa on “The O.C.,” the actress definitely seems to prefer doing films.

“I started doing film when I was 1, and I love it — it is the best experience for me,” she said. “Each film that you do — it is like a little group that you make friends with and you have that for life. When you go on a television series, it is a different thing. Of course you have it for life, but it’s a long-running show and it’s not the same kind of temporary kinetic energy that you get from a movie.”

[From Fox News]

Mischa you probably didn’t get that same “temporary kinetic energy” from your television show because you were supposedly a nightmare to deal with. You showed up late, hung-over, (sometimes still drunk…), were a total diva, refused to work with people, and generally made everyone’s lives such a living hell that they killed of your character by having her tumble off a hill in a car. Working on a film is probably a better fit for Mischa, since people only have to tolerate her for much shorter periods of time.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Mischa with all of her free swag from Sundance. Splash notes: “Actress Mischa Barton has her hands full with some Sundance freebies including a Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero game and a couple of umbrellas as she makes her way through Los Angeles International Airport. Barton was attending the festival in Utah to promote her new movie ‘Assassination of a High School President.’” Images thanks to Splash Photos.