'Collateral' role is right for Jada Smith

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LOS ANGELES, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Jada Pinkett Smith plays a confident go-getter in "Collateral," character traits the Hollywood actress said she really has.

"I've always been someone who wanted to consume the world in one big gulp," Pinkett Smith told the New York Daily News.

The actress plays Annie, love interest to Jamie Foxx's character in "Collateral," opening Friday at U.S. theaters.

"Jada has this unique charisma in real life and I believe that's conveyed in her character. We meet Annie in the beginning of the film, and she has to make an extremely strong impression on us because we're not going to see her again until very much later," said director Michael Mann.

"I don't have it in me to play helpless. Most actors would say that's the exact role I need to take. But it's so outside of who I am. I've worked very hard to enhance who I am. Maybe I've softened the edges a little bit, but I haven't altered the essence of myself," Pinkett Smith said.