'Too Pretty To Be A Geek'

In a film career that is just over a decade old, the versatile Rosario Dawson has proven she can do it all, from musical to drama, to action.

Now, she's back in theaters in a comedy called "Clerks II," a sequel made a dozen years after the original, that picks up the lives of the main characters ten years later.

"Clerks" became a Generation X classic, spawning a cult industry that even included a comic book series, which is where Dawson and the director and writer of both "Clerks" movies, Kevin Smith, intersect.

With his View Askew production company, Smith forges an entire "View Askewniverse," and directed such films as "Mallrats," Chasing Amy," "Dogma," "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and "Jersey Girl."

On The Early Show Monday, Dawson told co-anchor Harry Smith that Kevin Smith was shocked when she said she would appear in "Clerks II."

She says she found that "so funny. I was so excited that he would even ask me to do it. I've been a big fan of his for a long time. I'm really into comic books, and he did this movie called "Chasing Amy," with Ben Affleck, and it was all about the comic book industry. My uncle is a penciler, and I remember being so glad he wasn't made fun of.

" … As soon as I showed up, we started spieling, and he was like, 'You know comics!' And he's like, 'You're blowing my mind. You're too pretty to be a geek!' And I'm like, 'Sir!' "

Dawson is out with a comic book of her own, "The Occult Crimes Task Force," whose main character is a detective solving crimes involving magic in New York City.

"I'm part co-creator on this," Dawson says, "and I help with the writing and stuff like that. And even like with the first issue, it's like, having a movie industry kind of background, I wanted it to have that 'Silence of the Lambs" feel, like something's coming to get her. She's a little out of her element, but she's toughing it out. That's what she's doing."

"Clerks II" is set in a fast food restaurant, and Dawson plays the clerks' boss. The comedy has racy leanings."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."