Rosario Dawson Wanted 'Unstoppable' Character To Be 'Composed'

Like her "Unstoppable" co-stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson put in serious time and research to prepare for her role in the Tony Scott thriller about a runaway train. Dawson says she had the opportunity to meet with a real-life inspiration for her character: a female rail-yard manager.

"We had a great opportunity, we found this amazing woman, Mary Alexander," Dawson recently told. Dawson said she got to pick Alexander's brain, and peppered her with questions about proper rail yard vernacular, protocol and technical terminology.

In the film, opening Friday, Dawson plays Connie, a headstrong rail-yard manager who, along with Pine and Washington's characters, goes up against her corporate bosses in an attempt to stop a train loaded with explosive chemicals from careening into a small town.

"To do that and know it was a woman who went through it, I was like, 'How did you work your way up? What did that feel like?' " she recalled asking Alexander. "You get those obvious clichéd things about a woman working in a men's industry, but you also get this [explanation]: 'Listen this is a high-stakes situation, this doesn't happen every day but when it does, you want capable people to be there.'

"To be someone composed and a leader in that, that's what I wanted Connie to be," Dawson added. "Not just a cool, spunky woman or a bitchy aggressive woman, but just the right person for the job."

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