'Too Pretty To Be A Geek'

Rosario Dawson On The Comic Book Connection To 'Clerks II'

(CBS)  "I definitely warned my grandmother," Dawson says. "I was like, 'This might not be one you want to invite your church friends to.' Because she's very good at supporting, but down in South Carolina, I understand there might be a couple of little things.

"It's a raunchy comedy, for sure. It has a lot of heart, I have to say. It's a lot more touching (than 'Clerks'), surprisingly, I think, for even the most rabid fans are going to be very surprised by how moving it is."

The movie looks at the guys who used to work in the convenience store. Now they're at a fast food place, and they're not in their 20s. They're in the 30s, and you're the boss.

Dawson admits playing the boss was "really fun. You watch the first one, it still holds up. It's a really smart film. It was Kevin's first movie. It's all in black and white; some of the fans were nervous about having a sequel done in color with the same guys, and they're older now. But you don't need to watch the first one to get the second one. The second one, these guys are in their 30s, and they're plugging away at that idea, 'Do I go for the brass ring of what success looks like, or do I stay with maybe something that's not as glamorous, but makes me happy?' "

Dawson comes from humble beginnings, to say the least. Harry Smith described her parents as "squatters down on the Lower East Side" of Manhattan.

"I'm very, very excited," Dawson observed. "I'm very blessed. You know, I'm doing this comic (book) with my uncle. He's a supervisor on it. He's been a comic book artist for years. I've looked up to him for so long. And now, we get to work with each other, and it's really wonderful. I feel really blessed at this time in my life."