By Chris Betros

Arts & Culture Feb. 12, 2009 - 07:00AM JST ( 8 )

TOKYO —

One thing we can say about Will Smith; he knows how to entertain, and not just in his movies. During his 10th visit to Japan this week, the 40-year-old star was in great form, joking with the media, rapping, humming soundtrack while his interpreter tried her best to concentrate, joking with hotel staff and being fed Valentine’s chocolate by singer Akiko Wada on the red carpet at the Japan premiere for his latest film, “7 Pounds” (titled “7 Gifts” for its Japan release). “I’ve been to Japan three times in the last year, so I think they should offer me citizenship,” he quipped.

In “7 Pounds,” Smith plays a guilt-ridden man who resolves to give seven deserving people a new chance at life by an extraordinary personal sacrifice. However, his plan gets complicated when he falls in love with one of the recipients, a woman in need of a heart transplant, played by Rosario Dawson, 29, who joined Smith in Japan along with Italian director Gabriele Muccino.

“This is a very unusual movie to find me in. There are no aliens, explosions or special effects,” said Smith. “I totally connected myself to the pain and loss of the character. I think it is a powerful and unique love story about how far someone will go in the name of love and redemption. Usually in movies like this, the males avoid showing their emotions, but this script takes a new approach to the psychological, emotional and spiritual development of the lead character. I had to cry. My son, who is acting now, asked me about that scene. The way to do it is to try as hard as you can not to cry because that‘s how it is in real life. It‘s much more painful for an audience to watch when you are fighting back the tears, and then they come out anyway.”

For Dawson (“Eagle Eye,” “Death Proof,” “Sin City,” “Men In Black II”), the story serves as a reminder of our mortality. “Sometimes we think we’ll live forever and we don’t recognize that life is precious and we should enjoy every minute of it while we can,” she said.

The central theme of “7 Pounds” is the offering of life-changing gifts. Smith said his life-changing gifts came from his grandmother when he was growing up in Philadelphia. “She raised us with stories. I never thought I was learning anything about life, but she was in fact teaching me through those stories.”

Family is everything for Smith, so much so that he has never done a love scene in a movie—other than with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith in “Ali”—because he didn’t want to “do legal cheating.“ However, “7 Pounds” changed that. Dawson got big laugh out of it. “He didn’t know what to do. He’d pull back and wasn’t sure whether he should keep his hand on my butt,” she laughed. “Hold on a minute,“ Smith cut in. “Love scenes are very awkward. You have a whole bunch of people on the set looking on and Gabriele was zooming in close with his camera. My grandmother raised me to be very respectful toward women. I didn’t want anyone to think that I would use this situation to get a cheap feel.”

“7 Pounds” opens in Japan on Feb 21.