MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Will Smith is bringing the message of his new movie "Seven Pounds" to the Midwest with a promotional tour that also turned into a fundraiser.

In the film, which opens nationwide Friday, Smith portrays a suicidal man determined to change the lives of several strangers. "If there's a message, it's 'you gotta help somebody.' Even if it's somebody's car breaking down, use your cell phone. Something little like that. We gotta help one another to get the quality of life we're all striving for," he said in an interview with the Star Tribune.

Smith's appearance Friday for a local premier at a theater in suburban Edina was also a fundraiser for Second Harvest Heartland, the state's largest hunger-relief organization. Tickets were given to the first 250 people who donated nonperishable food. He and Vikings player Bernard Berrian also donated 300 holiday dinners to the organization. "It's cool to have the goal of being the biggest movie star in the world. But why? It's been revealed to me that the question is: Whose life is better because you woke up today?"

Smith said he realized he had drifted out of contact with everyday people on Nov. 4. "I sat there with my children and my 16-year-old son couldn't understand how I didn't know (the election) was over already. He was like 'You're out of touch,'" he said.

His promotional tour also includes stops in Miami, Dallas, St. Louis, Cleveland, Denver and Charlotte, N.C.





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