Evan Rachel Wood plays a messed up high school kid from the 1970s - complete with hot pants and platform shoes - in Running with Scissors, based on the memoirs of Augusten Burroughs.

Working with Augusten Burroughs: Burroughs made himself available to the actors, if they needed help understanding different aspects of their characters. ?It was great for me. I was right in the middle of the book when I got the script just by chance.

I thought that I didn?t have a chance because the character description is really different. I thought that they would never hire me. Getting to talk to him and hear more about the real girl and the real people and get some of their real names? I was just sitting there like a kindergartner listening to all of the stories. It definitely helped.

I didn?t know what I was going to do. I know this is a real person, but I don?t have anything to base it off of except the book. I?ve never seen her; I don?t know what she sounded like. Getting that from him really helped in even asking about mannerisms and how she smoked and little things like that. That was just a treat for me.?

The Complicated Characters of Running with Scissors: Brian Cox plays Wood?s dad, the bizarre psychiatrist Dr. Finch, in a film loaded with more than its fair share of colorful characters. Asked how she approached her character?s relationship with her dad, Wood said, ?I feel sympathetic towards all the characters. But I mean Brian played it brilliantly and I think you really get that he really did at one point want to help people and do something good.

I don?t really know what happened to him. Maybe he was just so smart he went crazy and took it a little too far, which just kept growing and growing. I do feel bad because I?m sure sometimes he must see some of the damage he?s doing, which he probably can?t deal with so he?s just going to keep going crazier. It?s just a bad vicious cycle with the whole family.?

Soaking up the 1970s: The story?s set in the 70s, which meant the costumes and attitudes had to reflect that decade. ?It was fun. I definitely have a whole new appreciation for the 70s and 70s fashion, and the music and all of that. I had a lot of fun with that, and hair and makeup had a lot of fun with me. I was the one they just totally went loose on. They told me, ?This is so much fun because you know Gwyneth [Paltrow] really isn?t wearing any makeup and Jill [Clayburgh] is looking kind of sad. You come in and we are just peacocking you up.? I?m like laying there and like, ?Just go for it.? It was fun.

I had so many fittings. Everyday I?d come to work and there would be a rack of clothes and we would just go through it. The problem was every outfit I put on, Ryan [Murphy] loved so he didn?t veto one outfit. It was hysterical.?

Life on the Running with Scissors Set: Wood says out of all the films she?s done thus far, Running with Scissors was one of her favorite sets. ?It was so kind of out there and you could just really go and do anything and say anything. It doesn?t matter. It was just really open and everyone was really relaxed and laid back. And Ryan Murphy is the most well-dressed director I ever worked for. He always looked so cool on set with his white sun glasses and his jacket. It was very stylish.?

Getting to Go a Little Crazy: Commenting on the scene in which she and Joseph Cross stand on the kitchen table and attempt to tear down the ceiling, Wood recalled, ?Actually that was right after I found out I got the part in Across the Universe. It was moments before that. I was almost in tears. I was so excited and everybody clapped for me on set. Me and Joe had been looking forward to shooting the scene for so long and he got me up there and I was like (she pretends to scream) and hitting the ceiling. That was my excitement. It was one of my favorite parts in the book too.?

And Speaking of Across the Universe: Wood has a starring role in the Julie Taymor film, Across the Universe. A musical set in the 1960s, the film features a selection of songs from The Beatles that helped define that turbulent decade. ?It was amazing,? says Wood. ?It was the hardest thing I?ve ever done, but it changed my life. It was also the most amazing experience I?ve ever had. I can?t even explain it. Just really, really special and just meant so much to everyone. I mean The Beatles mean so much to so many people, you know? Everybody has at least one song of The Beatles that?s one of their favorite songs of all time, and most of them we were singing. You get the burden of going, ?You know, there?s a few million people out there that this is their favorite song and if you screw it up, you kind of flunk, so don?t worry about it.? It was wonderful.?

Wood has a hard time naming her personal favorite Beatles song. ?Oh, that?s hard. It changes a lot. But from the movie my favorite number was probably Happiness is a Warm Gun. It was really great. After hearing [them] constantly, a lot of them I can?t really listen to anymore.?