Los Angeles, Aug 22 (IANS): Actress Amanda Seyfried says dogs make great characters on screen because of their playfulness and curiosity.

"It's a dog, it's their smell, their wide-eyed innocence, their playfulness, and their curiosity. They just want to love you and live in the present and we could all learn that. That's a big giant challenge for us humans to live in the present and they just do it naturally and it's a beautiful thing to watch," Seyfried said while talking about why dogs make for great characters.

That's what made Seyfried take up "The Art Of Racing In The Rain", directed by Simon Curtis.

The film follows Denny Swift, an F1 driver and his dog, Enzo, who believes in the legend that the dog will be reincarnated in his next life as a human.

"It didn't take me much to sell me on it. I mean if a story is good and I mean I didn't even really care to read the script at that point because it just seemed like a perfect little package. The script ended up being great too so then it was just one of those gems that don't come along very often and it's really true to the book which is special and I think fans of the book are going to love the movie," she said of the film, slated to air in India on Star Movies.