The FrontPage had a chance to catch up with Rosario to find out about her life in the fast-lane and her pivotal role as Emily in "Seven Pounds".

FrontPage: How difficult was the role of Emily for the "Seven Pounds" movie?

Rosario Dawson: It wasn't actually the most difficult, but it was definitely the most emotional

and intense.

FP: Did you spend some time around hear patients to prepare for the role?

RD: I did. I met with someone who had actually had a heart transplant. I studied and looked at surgeries, I talked to trauma doctors and it brought a lot of information of just understanding how many surgeries [Emily]

already had at by that point.

So even talking to him (the transplant patient) about how he felt and what the energy was when the phone rang...I mean we really just kind of went into the beat by beat of it all. It was really just incredible learning about the fact that he can't run, leaning about walking three paces and being out of breath...taking all those details but then filtering it through Emily. And Emily was not someone who these facts just created. They're a 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 is one of the reasons why I very much wanted to play Emily.

FP: Can you talk about your process with Will [Smith] in terms of working with him?

RD: Well, Will's a complete jerk! He's one of those guys who's only on for his side of the camera, and once it goes on me its just nothing! (laughing) No, he was amazing. We had five weeks of rehearsal, which actually

did not feel like enough time when we were going into it, but actually was quite a lot of time especially for other films who don't have them much. But the chemistry between these two characters was so important and we worked through the entire script from beginning to end and changed a lot of things. We would do the scenes over and over again trying to find our place and pushing ourselves.

FP: Can you talk about the love scenes?

RD: Yes, it was really funny. Will is shockingly shy about intimacy with strangers. I guess that's not too bad, but it was really unbelievable how much. He pushed our kiss scenes for weeks, like until the point where I really started getting nervous about my breath! (laughing) It was starting to get down to the details of going, 'Seriously, it's not that bad! It was such a big deal, he was talking about having Jada there, I mean it was starting to get awkward at a certain point in going I can't believe that you're shy and that you're nervous. It was so sweet. Everyone could tell he was really nervous, so I was very gentle. (laughing)

FP: Is it hard for you to watch yourself on screen?

RD: No. I don't see myself when I'm on screen. When I see myself that's when I get annoyed.

But really, I see Emily when I watch this movie and I really love Emily. I get really kind of miffed a little bit when I hear different actors who don't watch their own films. I'm like why am I supposed to pay $10 to watch it when you won't even watch?

I never wanted to be an actor, and I was always just so curious about the entire process that I could watch myself. I think that's so helpful now because I can see that I've grown and figured out things along the way, and I can be very judgmental of myself.

FP: What is the biggest thing that you would want people to walk away with after seeing "Seven Pounds"?

RD: I hope compassion for themselves. Honestly, I think 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 you can even forget the choices that you have in front of you.

So that's something I feel like just really registering; being honest and truthful with yourself and being able to come from that place because we all have choices all the time.