"The Bourne Supremacy" actress Julia Stiles is suing her former production partners for allegedly conspiring to rob her of a role in a film adaptation of Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar".

The star was hoping the role of Esther Greenwood - the fictionalised Plath in the story - would land her her first Oscar nomination and propel her to the ranks of other serious actresses, reported the Internet Media Database.

But she lost the part.

Stiles now claims that the film partners had sealed a secret deal and conspired with the film's director to "fire Stiles and hire another actress to play the lead role".

Meanwhile, Stiles is preparing to graduate from New York's Columbia University, where she has been studying English literature, this May.