Rosario Dawson: Will's Lady

Hey, we all know Will Smith's "Lady" is his wife Jada but in the off-beat and touching romantic thriller Seven Pounds, exotic actress Rosario Dawson (of Eagle Eye, Death Proof, Rent, Descent, Alexander, etc.) plays Emily, a creative artist hoping for a heart transplant and Will's character Ben falls for her. Always outspoken and "real", Rosario tells us she desperately wanted to play this role. She reveals that Will was shy about love scenes and that she was on a plane with her mom and grandma when she first read the script and connected deeply to the story.

For our Beverly Hills interview, Rosario chose a cute Theory outfit; black and white floral pattern skirt, black knit blouse topped by a sweet plum sweater. We learned that the actress sometimes gives flowers to strangers on the street and were totally surprised to learn that Rosario was once a math and science whiz who wanted to be a biologist or engineer but, no matter what the profession, hoped, since childhood, that she'd be a "star".

TeenHollywood: You are very convincing in the role of heart patient Emily. Did you do research or meet with heart patients?

Rosario: I did, yes. I met with (a man) who had had a heart transplant. I talked to a trauma doctor and (learned that Emily) must have had four or five pacemakers put in and different types of surgeries done. It was really incredible learning about the fact that he can't run, learning about walking three paces and being out of breath, taking all of those details and then filtering it through Emily. These facts were part of her life but she chose to be someone so beautiful and graceful and dignified in the face of her mortality. That was something I was really moved by and one of the reasons I really wanted to play Emily.

TeenHollywood: Emily goes through a lot. What or who keeps you going when you face sorrow or trauma in your own life?

Rosario: The people who literally, stop my heart are my mom and my grandmother. I remember when they were all coming to visit me and I was driving them around. It was the first time. I don't have any kids but I can imagine what it must feel like to drive your kids in a car and suddenly be really aware of all the jerks on the road but I was like in driving school. I was checking all my mirrors. I was going super slow. My grandmother was even going 'why are you going so slow?' I suddenly just felt so concerned and so aware that I had three generations in one car and how responsible I would be for that.

TeenHollywood: You were with them when you first read the script for Seven Pounds?

Rosario: Yes. I was with my grandmother and my mom coming back from the Hispanic Heritage Awards in D.C. and my grandmother was asleep on my mom and my mom was asleep on me and I cracked open the script so I think that's one of the reasons why it really impacted me. My mom is diabetic and asthmatic and so health is something that I'm always very concerned about in regard to her. I know, for her, looking at the script and coming on set and seeing me sick was really hard for her to think of me in that position. We're just very emotionally connected the three of us in a very deep way. They're the people that I always need when I'm not happy or am going through anything and I can't imagine them not being there so that's honestly the scariest thing I could possibly imagine.

TeenHollywood: You have some hot kisses and a steamy love scene with Will. Can you talk about that?

Rosario: (laughs) Yes. It was really funny. Will is shockingly shy about intimacy with strangers I guess. I guess that's not too bad but it was really unbelievable how much he pushed our kiss scenes for weeks to the point to where I started getting really nervous about my breath and it started to get down to the little details of going (she sniffs her underarm like 'do I stink'? (laughter) Seriously? It's not that bad. We don't have to totally do tongue. We could work on this'. It was such a big deal, talking about having Jada there. It was kind of getting awkward at a certain point and I'm going 'I can't believe that you're shy and you're nervous'.

TeenHollywood: That's really kind of cute. Obviously he got over that because the scenes are really good. How do you think he got over his love-scene shyness?

Rosario: I remember we actually go into the scene where we're kissing at the printing press and it's toward the end. It's a very emotional scene. The way we revved up into that was Will standing outside going 'Yeah! We goin' to get this scene! Woooo! Yeah! I'm ready to go today!' (I bust out laughing) and I was like 'you haven't done that for the past fifty-five days. Why today, babe? You're kind of freaking me out. I need a little bit of calm going into this. I need some candles and nice music and you're screaming out there like you're ready to play football or something'. It was freaking me out. But, it was so sweet. Everyone could tell that he was really, really nervous so I just was very gentle (she laughs).

TeenHollywood: Getting serious, you've worked with women suffering domestic abuse and violence like a character in the film does. Do you like the way Will's character Ben helps her out?

Rosario: I was so moved in this movie when Ben says, 'don't be weak!' to that woman who was abused. It's such a harsh and strong moment and she goes 'I know' and that's so deep to me, so beautiful and I'm so grateful that Will is doing a story like this that would normally get relegated to being an independent film. The Pursuit of Happyness allowed grown men and women to be crying in a theater together and still feel like they were who they were. It didn't take away from them, it just allowed them to be emotional. That's something so incredible. We need more of that.

TeenHollywood: Are you into being kind to strangers? Will's character gives them the ultimate gifts.

Rosario: I walk around and give people flowers in the street sometimes. It's amazing to watch someone's face as you give them a flower in the street and someone down the block sees it and goes, 'that looks really weird' and you look at their face again and they're like 'why didn't she give me a flower?' and kind of feel upset if I don't. They slow down to make sure. 'Would you like a flower?' 'Well, yes, that would be very nice' and (you see) the grin on their face and an innocence that comes. I think that's really important. Even if that homeless guy on the street asks for some change and you don't really have money, just say 'I'm so sorry. I hope you have a great day'. A lot of times they just appreciate that you didn't just ignore them. It means so much.

TeenHollywood: That's a great thought. Is it hard for you to watch yourself on screen?

Rosario: No. Narcissistic actress right here. No. I don't see 'myself' when I'm on screen and when I see myself, that's when I get annoyed. When I watch this movie, I see Emily and I really love Emily. If I'm really looking at myself, I'd probably go, 'I would never wear that blouse'. I get miffed a little bit when I hear about actors who don't watch their own films. 'Then why am I supposed to pay ten bucks to watch it if you won't even watch it?'

TeenHollywood: What made you want to be an actor? I've read that you certainly didn't start out with acting as a goal for your life.

Rosario: As a child I wrote this piece of paper and said I thought I was going to be a star. I used to argue with people about it when they'd asked me how I meant to manifest that; through dancing or singing or what? I'd be like 'I'm gonna be a star! Okay. Get it!' (laughs) and then, as I was in high school I got really into biology and math so I wanted to be a marine biologist and I took Civil Engineering at Columbia University. I was trying to figure out whether I was going to be in Engineering or Biology work. That's where I was at when I was discovered into acting but I continued going to those classes. I thought I was dooming myself to being poor for the rest of my life and being frustrated.

TeenHollywood: Don't you come from a family of artistic people?

Rosario: My mom's a singer and my dad used to act and my uncle is a comic book artists and my grandmother is a photographer and a painter and poet and they're all really incredible artists but they're all really frustrated. I didn't want to be unhappy. I was scared for so many years and cried because I thought I made the wrong decision by not going to college.

TeenHollywood: What do you hope audiences take away from this film?

Rosario: I hope compassion for themselves, honestly. That's the thing I was so moved by. You can be so caught up in yourself and you can forget the people around you and the choices that you have in front of you; just really registering being honest and truthful to yourself and being able to come from that place because we all have choices all the time. You can completely turn your life around. You could be a different person in a different place and just move on. You have that ability. Life is too short and precious to not try that and give yourself that opportunity. When people walk out of the theater, I hope they really look at each other and open the door for each other. I think we really need to have a sense of community around us that we haven't had for a really long time.