Rosario Dawson: Actress Puts Heart Into 'Seven Pounds'

'Seven Pounds' is a complex movie to describe.

Why? It's the kind of film you can't really discuss about without revealing the entire storyline.

And trust me, not knowing is truly the way you want to see this film! It's the payoff at the end of the film that makes the entire movie watching process worth it.

Rosario Dawson stars opposite Will Smith in this film that deals in many aspects with random acts of kindness.

The 29-year-old actress, who has also starred in 'Eagle Eye,' 'The Rundown' and 'Death Proof,' shared how she has displayed random acts of kindness in the past.

Seven Pounds Premiere

"I love Milan Kundera and there's this book he wrote 'Immortality' and this woman is walking around giving people flowers in the street. So I do that sometimes. I'll give people flowers in the street. It's amazing to watch someone's face as you give them flowers in the street, and someone down the block see it, and they're like that's really weird. And then they kind of look and face you again and they're like, I wonder if she's going to give me a flower. They kind of feel a little bit upset if I like don't totally see them. You see them slowing down to make sure. You're like, 'Would you like a flower?' And they're like, 'sure, sure!' I did that twice in San Francisco," she recalled, as we discussed the film during our recent interview at the Four Season Las Angeles at Beverly Hills.

Early in 'Seven Pounds' it is revealed that Dawson's character is facing major challenges with her health. In real life, the New York-bred talent said there are two people who help her cope when she has to overcome adversity.

"The only people who make me feel that are my mother and my grandmother," she shared. "I love my dad and I love my brother and I love all of the people in my life, but the people who literally really stop my heart are my mother and my grandmother."

During a recent visit by her mother and grandmother, Dawson had an epiphany about the role they play in her life and found herself becoming a little overwhelmed by their presence.

"I remember when they were all coming to visit me and I was driving. I don't have any kids but I could imagine what it feels like to drive your kids in the car and suddenly just be really aware of all the jerks on the road. It was like I was in driving school. I was checking all my mirrors and I was making sure I was going super-slow. My grandmother was like, 'why are you going so slow?' I suddenly just felt so concerned that I had three generations in one car and how responsible I would be for that. We're just emotionally connected, the three of us, in a deep way," she explained.

The multiracial actress – she's of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent – has some poignant scenes in 'Seven Pounds' and one in particular completely challenged her method towards acting.

"The most emotionally intense were the scenes in the hospital. One where I am calling [Will's character] and making the phone call. As we were shooting it, [the director] Gabriele [Muccino] felt it was running too long. It was running several minutes long. We were shooting and shooting and I'm balling. Gabriele is like 'cut, cut, cut, its running too long.' So he and Will walked away and came back and said, 'these three pages are out.' I went, 'ah, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, okay.' That was amazing because as an actress sometimes, even in that space of keeping it fresh and doing all that, you get caught in your rhythm. I had to get out of that rhythm and be fresh with it again and still be able to be connected and emotional. It was just really structuring it and that was when I needed be technical," she said.

Dawson said having to re-approach her approach to her character and the delivery of the script came from the support and the coaching of a friend and fellow 'Rent' co-star.

"I'm not Juilliard trained, but I was lucky that I was talking to Tracie Thoms and she would come over and we would have meetings about the character and we worked the entire script together and I benefited from her Juilliard training. That was something that was really, really intense," she admitted.

Dawson confessed that she doesn't have problem watching herself on camera playing the intense scenes in 'Seven Pounds' or in any other flick for that matter.

"Uh, no! Narcissistic actress right here," she teased, before adding: "I don't see myself onscreen. I see [the character]. But when I see myself, that's when I get annoyed. But I get really kind of miffed when I hear about actors who don't watch their own films. It's like, why should I pay $10 to watch it if you won't even watch it."

*****

'Seven Pounds' also stars Michael Ealy, Woody Harrelson and Robinne Lee and opens nationwide on Dec. 19.

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