Kal Penn plays Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, with Abbie Cornish as Anna Nicole Smith, in “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.”
The idea of the high-achieving child of immigrant parents may be a cliché. But in Kal Penn’s case, it is backed by hard evidence.
It is true that Penn, the son of an engineer and a fragrance evaluator for a perfume company, didn’t exactly follow their career paths. (“Sadly, there’s nothing biological about success in STEM,” he jokes. “As you could see by my science grades!”) But the Montclair native did excel in his public schools’ jazz band, its debate team, its theater programs … and, eventually, as an actor.
“As in any community, you encourage your kids to do what you know,” says Penn, 49. “At first, my parents didn’t know the arts were a viable career. But they’ve been tremendously supportive ever since.”
“Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” a sweet stoner comedy, was Penn’s breakthrough in 2004. He quickly built on that by notching supporting parts or guest roles in such high-profile TV shows as “House,” “How I Met Your Mother” and “Designated Survivor” as well as the lead in the acclaimed movie “The Namesake,” and making two more “Harold and Kumar” comedies with co-star John Cho.
Kal Penn with John Cho in “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.”
Oh, and in between, he took a showbiz sabbatical to join President Barack Obama’s administration, serving first as the Associate Director of the Office for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, and then on the Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He was also a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, and won the 2017 MasterChef Celebrity Showdown.
So, no, underachieving was never an option.
Which was why I was happy when he found time to sit for interviews, first on Zoom and then after the screening I hosted of his new film, “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor,” a darkly comic story of the relationship between troubled sex symbol Anna Nicole Smith and her caring but perhaps too-eager-to-please physician, Sandeep Kapoor.
Q: Your first big film, “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” was memorable for a number of reasons, including having a Korean-American and an Indian-American as its two leads. But it was also such a truly New Jersey film. How did the state form you, growing up?
A: Well, the towns that I grew up in — I won’t say they were really racially diverse but they were ethnically diverse. It was not uncommon for families to have friends who were bilingual, who spoke Italian or Polish at home. It was only later in life that I found out, “Oh, there’s a stigma against that? Why would you not want to be able to speak more than one language, and think differently?” So I definitely credit Jersey with being ethnically diverse. And, really, for the public education it provided.
Q: How so?
A: The way it supported the arts, for one thing. I grew up in the Freehold Regional High School District, where each high school had a magnet program. The last two years of high school, I auditioned for, and got into, the performing arts program at Howell High. There was also the New Jersey Governor’s School for the Arts, which, sadly, has since closed. But having opportunities like that gave me the confidence to study film in college, and the chance to explore this career now. And it’s true, most students who study the arts don’t end up pursuing them professionally, and that’s fine. But I really believe it helps them become better doctors and lawyers or whatever they decide to do.
Kal Penn with Abbie Cornish in “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.”
Q: What attracted you to “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor”?
A: There were a couple of things. The script really caught me off guard. I remember getting it, and before I opened it up thinking, “Oh yeah, I remember this story, this was that doctor who went to prison for murdering that lady.” And then I started reading it and I stopped and realized, “Oh no, that is not at all what happened.” And as I went on what stuck out to me was how vulnerable Sandeep was, how many mistakes he made and how deeply vulnerable he was. I’d never played a character like that before — especially one who was still alive.
Q: Did you meet the real Sandeep?
A: I did. And he was very gracious in giving me time, and letting me shadow him, and meet his parents. He told me, “I’m a big fan, and I’m so glad you’re playing me, because I know you’ll do justice to my story,” And I had to, you know, basically be like, “I’ve got news for you, that’s not my job. My job is to do justice to the role, and the script.” But spending time with him was very helpful. He was really honest about why he did things — how, at the time, he fully, in his heart, believed they were the right decisions for his patient.
Q: One of the fascinating things in the film is that, he’s living a very quiet life and then he meets Anna Nicole Smith, who is this total exhibitionist — his total opposite.
A: I think that was the appeal for him. As a gay man in Los Angeles, he was out, but when he would go to a gay bar like The Abbey, he was invisible. He didn’t fit what the gay standard of beauty was out there. And, you know, he’s not even a celebrity; he’s just a doctor. So he’s ignored. But then he goes there with Anna Nicole Smith, and he’s surrounded by people simply because they want to be near her. It was intoxicating.
Kal Penn with Tabu, left, and Zuleikha Robinson in “The Namesake.”
Q: Your own celebrity took off with “Harold & Kumar.” You’ve done so many other things since then, but did you ever feel the danger of being trapped in that? Oh, this is the guy who does stoner comedies?
A: I had the good fortune of working with a lot of directors who wanted to cast against type. I mean, I had a part on “24” when it was really at its peak, playing this awful bad guy, which I loved — and that’s because the producer thought it’d be fun to subvert whatever image I had.
But the biggest change from that image, and the film I’m most proud of, was Mira Nair’s “The Namesake.” John Cho and I had actually first looked into getting the rights to that novel, and when I heard Mira was going to make it, I handwrote her, really pleading for the part. I even flew myself out to New York to audition — I remember going on that bargain site Priceline and finding the absolute cheapest airfare I could, because I had made practically nothing off “Harold & Kumar.”
When I got there, she said, “I’m glad you’re here. Because my 14-year-old son Zohran (Mamdani) is a big fan of ‘Harold & Kumar’ and he’s been begging me for the last four months to get you. He even showed me clips from the movie — and I have to tell you, seeing it ended up really hurting your case. But then I got your letter.” So I guess that’s actually a contrary example of how “Harold & Kumar” almost lost me a part!
Q: What’s next?
A: A couple of things. I just finished a new film with Gregg Araki, who’s somebody I wanted to work with since I was in school and first saw “The Doom Generation.” There’s something else, which I can’t talk about yet. And, OK, I’ll give you a scoop — there is a script for a fourth “Harold & Kumar” movie. It’s from Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who had written all three. I read it, and I loved it. And we’re all really hoping we can get that going sometime in the next year — although, of course, it’s a really big leap from having a script to getting it greenlit.
“Trust Me, I’m a Doctor” opens on Oct. 16. For more about it, visit trustmeimadoctormovie.com. Here is the trailer:
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