Archive for December, 2008

Rosario Interviewed by Financial Times

American actor, producer and singer Rosario Dawson, 29, grew up in a squat in New York. She supports online travel agent Trip Advisor’s More Than Footprints Scheme, which is donating $1m to five charities (see www.tripadvisor.com/Cause)

What is the first charity you can remember supporting?

When I was 10, I handed out leaflets on saving trees. I grew up in New York in the concrete jungle, but I used to love family trips into the mountains. My parents told me how trees create your oxygen and eat your carbon dioxide, and that was a revelation.

Which cause do you feel most passionately about?

I work with several, so it is difficult for me to choose one. A special one is the Lower East Side Girls Club, a programme helping girls to avoid leaving school and child pregnancy, and to keep them off the streets and HIV-free. Another is Voto Latino, which gets young Latinos into the electoral process.

How did growing up in a squat affect your view of charity?

I recognised the tenacity of others; seeing what they could do and thinking I can do it too. I learnt about taking care of myself, viewing the situation around me and making choices. I learnt to appreciate how much strength I have, and that no matter how little you have, you can always help out. Just lick envelopes, or whatever it is, we can all help to make the machine run smoother. My mother, who had no money, used to volunteer at the hospital. So we were poor, but there was a community.

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Rosario Dawson h magazine Interview

hmag_122008_cover.jpgWe’re not yet thirty seconds into the interview, and Rosario Dawson has challenged my manhood.

“Did you cry?” she asks.

I, being completely secure with my own sexuality, artfully deflect her question with another question: Was this particular scene—which comprises the emotional crescendo of her new movie, Seven Pounds—easy to pull off?

“It was pretty intense,” she admits. “When I first had the script, I remember getting to the ending and I didn’t think it was going to be very good, cuz there was too much buildup. It was so cryptic, so I ended up going back and re-reading the parts that I liked. Then I read the ending and I couldn’t believe it. I was bawling! I was so taken by that moment, it was such an interesting move. The whole story—all the way through—is just very unique. There were so many emotions going on at that point.”

Okay. I confess. There may have been a leaky faucet jammed in the corner of my eye.

Seven Pounds, which also stars Will Smith and Woody Harrelson, is a career-elevating film for Dawson. As Emily Posa, an isolated and independent yet soft-around-the-edges woman in need of a heart transplant, the 29-year-old actress embodies a richly nuanced character who faces her situation with courage and grace. Smith plays Ben Thomas, an IRS agent who seeks out seven people who owe back taxes. There is, however, one other circumstance that connects these strangers: Each is in need of an organ transplant to correct a medical condition. It soon becomes clear that Ben is testing each person’s goodness as he determines whether they deserve his help. Carrying the guilt over an accident in which he was responsible for the deaths of seven people, Ben is determined to make amends. He is drawn to Emily almost immediately, and the two share a friendship that blossoms into romance.

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Rosario Dawson on Ellen

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Rosario Dawson gets romantic in ‘Seven Pounds’

440004891.jpgAmerica might be facing severe job shrinkage, but once in a while you still find a position opening up that hasn’t been available for some time. Like this one: “romantic leading lady in a Will Smith drama.” That vacancy has been filled in “Seven Pounds” by Rosario Dawson, who’s better known for her prominent roles in indie films than her smaller ones in studio pictures.

The film, in theaters Friday, pivots rather crucially on Smith’s deeply cynical character falling hopelessly in love. But the romance at the heart of “Seven Pounds” isn’t exactly familiar filmic territory for Dawson. The 29-year-old actress has appeared in 40 features over the last decade without ever being a romantic lead before now. Well, with one possible exception.

“I look at [2006's] ‘Clerks II’ as a romantic comedy — my kind of romantic comedy,” she said. Which is to say, one that has her discussing sexual hygiene ethics in her first scene. The lewd talk in Kevin Smith’s movie didn’t exactly go as far as the Will Smith film might in establishing her as America’s sweetheart, but Dawson said it did cement her appeal among one particular audience: “It definitely won me some more fans at Comic-Con.”

Dawson is, in fact, a geek-girl extraordinaire. She might show up for a Beverly Hills lunch interview in a determinedly feminine pink sweater, but her one-of-the-boys status is confirmed as soon as talk drifts to her appreciation for Marilyn Manson, splatter cinema and “Occult Crimes Taskforce,” the comic book she co-writes.

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Rosario Dawson on the Twilight Series

dawson_pattinson.jpg“I just read the first book, it’s ridiculous, it’s like crack cocaine. I read it for 10 hours straight until I finished it,” Dawson, who will appear in Parts Per Billion with Twilight’s vampire heartthrob Robert Pattinson, told PEOPLE at the Seven Pounds premiere in Hollywood Monday.

“I actually made a vow to myself not to buy the second, third and fourth book until Thursday, because that’s when I’ll be done with all this press, and I’ll be able to read over Christmas vacation.” But, she adds, the addiction will cut into some quality family time. “My dad is going to hate me, because I spend zero time with him, reading these books,” she said. “It’s like Judy Blume and Anne Rice had a child and made this book. I’m so attracted.”

What else is the 29-year-old stunner attracted to? Authenticity.  “You don’t want to fall in love with something that’s not real,” she explained when asked what she looks for in a man. “You have to also have compassion and self-love.”  While she may be attracted to the “mosters” in Stephanie Meyer’s books, Dawson says some kinds of love just scare her. “It’s not healthy. That whole idea of you complete me disturbs me. Like, well, if you complete me, that’s kind of a two-headed monster. Isn’t that kind of scary?”

Her solution for lasting love? “To be honest with each other.”

Source: People

Afterworld and Gemini Division get a Second Season!

In SCI FI’s Live Chat last night, Producer of Gemini Division, Brent Friedman announced that Afterworld will return with a second season, as will Gemini Division.

Okay, I think the big question our Forum posters have had – can you answer without giving away spoilers – who is Anna talking to?

Who is Anna talking to? She’s talking to… let’s just say that person is the star/focal point of Season 2. That vague enough?

Having someone as charismatic and attractive as Rosario Dawson to star was a huge coup – was it something that you really had to fight for, or was Rosario a bit of a cyber-pioneer?

Rosario did a voice in AW – Delondre. She had such a good time doing it, and really enjoyed the show, that she approached us about doing a webseries together. So we developed G-D specifically for her, and with her – she was also a producer. Yea, everything in the show was meant to be “5 mins in the future.” My fave thing was the Agri-Defense company with killer Beetants. Yikes! Also liked the “Smart Cows” shepherded by an automated farm. A lotta that cool stuff came from Andy Black, one of our writers and former researcher on the show “Numbers.”

How hard is it to concentrate on work when the Rosario Dawson is sitting across from you? Or is it easy to see a superstar as a normal person once you get to know them?

It was never easy. Especially in some of those outfits! ;)

To read the entire interview click here.

Roundup of Recent Interviews and more

ComingSoon.net Interview
The Insider at the Seven Pounds Premier
Interview on Oprah and Friends with Gayle King at V to the Tenth
Hollywood 411 Seven Pounds Interview
Maximo TV at Seven Pounds Premier

Just a note today’s Oprah Winfrey Show will be a repeat showing of Rosario Dawson’s appearance last month. Tune in to check it out.

Also the gallery has been updated with the following albums:

Seven Pounds Premier
Seven Pounds Afterparty

Rosario Dawson on Jay Leno

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Rosario Dawson CanMag Interview

Rosario Dawson has established a definitive persona over her career in movies. When director Gabriele Muccino cast her in Seven Pounds, he didn’t want any of that. He wanted her to be Emily, a physically weak patient waiting for a heart transplant.
“I was ready for it,” Dawson said. “It hurt sometimes. It was something to kind of get over, your ego, whatever. ‘No, I’m not doing that again.’ ‘Yes, you are.’ ‘Okay.’ And just really just be with it because I didn’t want to fight being a better actor. I didn’t want to fight not getting something right with Emily. I wanted to fight to do that so that was an interesting thing to be wrestling all the way through and I just was so grateful actually for the 15 years I’ve been acting that allowed me to be present for that because I couldn’t have done this 10 years ago.”

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Rosario Dawson Movies Online Interview

 Rosario sat down with Movies Online and had a very revealing interview going in depth about the film Seven Pounds and the process of creating it.

“Seven Pounds” is a stirring and emotionally suspenseful tale about a man with a haunting secret who sets out to redeem himself by drastically changing the lives of seven total strangers. Once his plan is set in motion, nothing can alter it. Or so he thinks. But what Ben Thomas (Smith) never expects is that he will fall in love with one of the strangers, Emily Posa (Dawson) – and that it is she who will start to change him.

Once Will Smith had committed to Seven Pounds, the search was on for an actress to play Emily.  It was Gabriele Muccino who suggested Rosario Dawson, who has been emerging as one of today’s most sought-after leading ladies, with roles ranging from the action of “Eagle Eye” and “Sin City” to the drama of “Shattered Glass” and “The 25th Hour.”  Says Muccino: “Rosario carries a tangible vulnerability that matches with her sensuality. There’s a cleverness that comes across through her attitude – and it was that cleverness that I felt we needed in order to believe that somebody like Ben could be rescued by a woman like Emily.”

Dawson fought hard for the role. “This was one of the best scripts that I’ve read, period,” she says. “As soon as I read it, I knew that this was a character that I loved, this was a journey I wanted to take. These characters just really moved me with their authenticity.  Every single person was just incredibly real. So, I auditioned like crazy and dedicated myself to making sure I was a part of this.”

It also helped that she had such a strong affinity for Emily.  “I love that Emily is stubborn and independent.  I love that she’s a survivor and she’s always found a way to take care of herself,” she says.  “But now she’s feeling alone and there’s part of her that realizes she’s going to be increasingly at the mercy of others.  So the challenge was to show that loneliness while also showing her curiosity, youthfulness and fierce resolve to live.”

Like Smith, Dawson ultimately sees the love story of Emily and Ben as part of something larger.  She sums up:  “I see Seven Pounds as being about a lot of different kinds of love:  the love that you hope for, the love that you have to accept, love for yourself, love for strangers and most of all, love for life itself.”

Rosario Dawson is a fabulous person and we really appreciated her time. Here’s what she had to tell us:

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