<P> Seven Pounds is based on a script written by Grant Nieporte under Columbia Pictures . In June 2007, Will Smith joined the studio to star in the planned film and to serve as one of its producers . In September 2007, director Gabriele Muccino, who worked with Smith on The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), was attached to direct Seven Pounds, bringing along his creative team from the 2006 film . Smith was joined by Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson the following December to star in Seven Pounds . Filming began in February 2008 . </P> <P> Most of the film was shot in Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Malibu, California . Points of interest used in the film include the Travel Inn in Tujunga, California, the Colorado Bar, the Huntington Library, the Sheraton, and the Pasadena Ice Skating Rink all in Pasadena, as well as Malibu Beach in Malibu . </P> <P> Before the film's release, the title Seven Pounds was considered a "mystery" which the studio refused to explain . Early trailers for Seven Pounds kept the film's details a mystery . Director Gabriele Muccino explained the intent: "The (audience) will not know exactly what this man is up to ." Will Smith is reported to have confirmed that the title refers to Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in which a debtor must pay a pound of flesh . In this case, it amounts to seven gifts to seven individuals deemed worthy by Smith's character, to atone for seven deaths he caused . </P> <P> Seven Pounds was promoted on a five - city tour across the United States in November 2008, screening in Cleveland, Miami, Dallas, St. Louis, and Denver to raise funds for food banks in each region . The film was promoted at a charity screening in Minneapolis in support of Second Harvest Heartland . Since screenings of new films usually took place in Los Angeles or New York City, the choice of cities was unconventional. Smith said, "This is more like the old - school music tours . Different clubs, different cities, meeting people . You get in touch with what people are feeling and thinking, and it's much more personal when you're actually out shaking hands ." The actor sought to "get reacquainted" with an America that he felt had an "openness to change" with the country's election of Barack Obama as the first African - American president . </P>

Where did the name seven pounds come from