the adamant certainty and aching vulnerability inherent in late adolescence." Wood has commented on her sexually-themed roles, saying that she is not aiming for the "shock factor" in her film choices. Also in 2005, Wood starred in the music videos for Bright Eyes' "At the Bottom of Everything" and Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends". 2006–2008: Continued success By 2006, Wood was described by The Guardian as being "one of the best actresses of her generation." Later that year, she received the Spotlight Award for Emerging Talent at Premiere magazine's annual Women in Hollywood gala. Also in 2006, Wood appeared with an all-star ensemble cast as Natalie Finch in the comedy-drama film Running with Scissors. Directed by Ryan Murphy and starring Annette Bening, the film was based on the memoir by Augusten Burroughs, which is a semi-autobiographical account of Burroughs' childhood in a dysfunctional family. Wood had roles in two films released in September 2007. King of California, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of a bipolar jazz musician (Michael Douglas) and his long-suffering teenage daughter, Miranda (Wood), who are reunited after his two-year stay in a mental institution and who embark on a quixotic search for Spanish treasure. One review praised Wood's performance as "excellent." The second film was Across the Universe, Julie Taymor's jukebox musical set to the songs of the Beatles that was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Musical or Comedy. Set during the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960s, Wood played Lucy, an American teen who develops a relationship with her brother's British friend Jude (Jim Sturgess). The film featured her singing musical numbers, and she has described the role as her favorite. One critic wrote that "Wood brings much-needed emotional depth." Wood provided the voice of an alien named Mala in Battle for Terra, a 2007 computer-animated science fiction film about a peaceful alien planet that faces destruction from colonization by the displaced remainder of the human race. The film won the 2008 Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. The film was also screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival, where she received an award at the Midnight Awards. In 2007, Wood also starred in the Vadim Perelman-directed The Life Before Her Eyes, based on the Laura Kasischke novel of the same name, about the friendship of two teens of opposite character who are