crime-drama plot". Acting breakthrough (2000–2005) Phillips appeared with Kate Hudson in Cameron Crowe's semi-biographical musical drama Almost Famous (2000). The film was a success and received four Academy Awards nominations. 2001 saw Phillips star in two independent coming-of-age films. In Tart, opposite Dominique Swain and Melanie Griffith, she played the longtime friend of a young woman at a preparatory school in 1980s New York City. PopMatters found Phillips to be one of the only intriguing actors in the film, "thanks to yet another fearless performance". In Bully, based on the 1993 murder of Bobby Kent, she took on the role of one in a group of several young adults in South Florida who enact a murder plot against a mutual friend who has emotionally, physically and sexually abused them for years. The film had a mixed critical response, but famed critic Roger Ebert was one of its notable admirers and gave it four out of four stars. Her performance in the film led The Hollywood Reporter to name her one of 2002's "Shooting Stars of Tomorrow". In 2003, Phillips starred as a member of a bizarre cult of young criminals, alongside Mischa Barton, in the thriller Octane, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2004, she played the nanny of an author's young daughter, with Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger, in The Door in the Floor (2004), a drama with heavy sexual themes adapted from the novel A Widow for One Year by John Irving. Phillips starred with Anne Hathaway in the drama Havoc (2005) as a spoiled socialite, appearing nude in some of its scenes. ViewLondon wrote that the "supporting cast are superb, particularly Bijou Phillips" as the "trashy best friend", while Variety asserted: "As played by Hathaway and Phillips, the friendship between [their characters] rings girlish and true, and comes complete with tantalizing, lesbian-flavored moments". Havoc was not released in theaters in the United States due to unfavorable critical reception. She appeared as an ill-fated high school senior in the slasher film Venom (also 2005), produced by Kevin Williamson. Horror films (2006–2009) In 2007, Phillips starred in the independent horror film The Wizard of Gore, as the girlfriend of a magic magazine's publisher, and collaborated with actress Lauren German in three films, the first being the comedy drama Spin, about seven people at a popular Los Angeles nightclub. In Hostel: Part II, which served as a sequel