Kal Penn stars in Trust Me, I’m A Doctor, a true story about Dr. Sandeep Kapoor after his life is turned upside down when he is implicated in the death of his former patient, model, and reality television star, Anna Nicole Smith.
LISTEN NOW: Kal Penn on 'Trust Me, I’m A Doctor'
Set against the height of the early 2000s tabloid era, the film chronicles Kapoor’s fight to clear his name as paparazzi descend on his office, police raid his home, private journals are leaked, and every aspect of his personal life becomes public. Kapoor must navigate a high-stakes drug conspiracy trial while confronting the intersection of celebrity, justice, politics, and personal redemption.
In Kal’s conversation with Romeo International, he opened up about his views on whether Kapoor was a man who lost his way or found himself.
While learning about Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, did you feel like he bent left, right, or was it a straight path?
"I mean, nothing is a straight path when it comes to getting to know the character and why, and the real Sandeep was very kind and letting me ask him all sorts of these questions. And he was very vulnerable, I think, in a way that I don't think most of us like to be. So a couple of things made sense to me. Like, first of all, the real Sandeep still practices medicine here in LA. He has a really small office and a very small patient list. And when you go to his office, you see these receptionists, humans who actually answer the phone when you call. I don't know about you, but if I'm trying to make an appointment with my doctor, it's a f***ing AI nonsense thing that I got to go through or a computer, and they're like, our 1st appointment is in 4 to 5 weeks. So I'm like looking at the real Sandeep going still in 2026. You have humans who are answering the phone, right?"
"So if you think 20 years ago, it wasn't weird that he would get invited by a patient to go to a pride party, for example. It wasn't weird to get invited to his patient's kids' sweet 16s or bar mitzvahs or any of that. So that was number one where I'm like, 'okay, I see the reason why you went.' Why would you get wasted and make out with your patient? That is a line that I'm just like, it doesn't matter how much alcohol I've had. There are certain things that I just know that I shouldn't do. And his answer to things like that in real life was fascinating where like, he had been to the Abbey bar plenty of times with his friends and felt relatively invisible all the times he went. Like nobody was coming up to talk to him. He had a perfectly nice time with his friends, but it's not like he met any new people. Suddenly he's there after an entire day of drinking with this famous patient of his who he's there in a friend capacity and people are coming up to him nonstop to talk."
"He said, that was a feeling in a high that he felt that he wasn't expecting to feel. So again, that goes back to like insecurity, vulnerability. Did he do something that was morally wrong? Obviously. Did he do anything illegal? Not really. So like, but it's not a yes or no, right? And the whole movie is not a binary, and that's what I loved about bringing that character to life."
In theaters now
In theaters now
