I Know This Much Is True star Archie Panjabi on the need for greater awareness about mental illness

Much like everyone else at the moment, actress Archie Panjabi has been lying low and trying to keep herself occupied during the pandemic. “I've just started catching up on TV. I'm now starting to look at British TV because I am missing home,” she said on the phone from Los Angeles. “I'm going to start watching Ricky Gervais’s After Life because everybody's been telling me about that.”

Panjabi’s latest role is in HBO’s six-episode miniseries I Know This Much Is True, where she plays Dr. Patel. Dr. Patel is the psychologist put in charge of a paranoid schizophrenic, Thomas Birdsey (Mark Ruffalo). The series is told from the point of view of his twin brother Dominick, as he tries to battle the system to get his brother released. This might sound par for course for a lot of media that has dealt with the subject of mental illness, but what sets it apart is that both brothers are played by Ruffalo, who puts in a virtuoso performance in this project, as well as its portrayal of how someone suffering from mental illness is at the mercy of the system.

We spoke to Panjabi about her role in this immersive and emotional series, and what it’s like be an Asian actor in the industry.

I first read I Know This Much Is True a very long time ago, when the book first came out, and I remember how much of an emotional, gut-wrenching roller coaster it is. What was your reaction or thought process when you were first offered the role of Dr. Patel?

I was sent the first few drafts of the scripts and read it, but I also read the book at the same time. My reaction was pretty much similar to yours, in that I found it immensely powerful, distressing and gut-wrenching too. And that kind of sealed the deal for me that I wanted to be part of the project.

Can you describe your character in the series?

I play the role of Dr. Patel, an incredibly experienced psychologist. She first meets Dominick with the intention of talking to him about his brother. She is also quite a bold and strong woman and can see how much pain and anger Dominick is carrying. In fact, she bluntly tells him she doesn't feel she could actually help his brother, but that he needed help and offered to look after him. She's calm, she's collected, she's guarded, but as you see in the series, she does get emotionally affected by some of the tragedies that Dominick opens up about.

What did you do to prepare for the role?

This is what I love about my craft. You go on these journeys to create a character and it always gives you very new and insightful experiences. I chatted to a number of friends who have been through counselling and continue to go through it, to get an idea of what it was like from their point of view. I also spoke to some of their counsellors, and I ended up having some sessions myself just to get a real feel of what the whole process was like. It was incredibly awkward talking to a stranger but yet immensely cathartic. My biggest challenge was how do I create a counsellor where, when presented with a complicated case like Dominick, would feel incredibly calm and open up.

After playing the role of Dr. Patel, did it change your view of mental illness, and in what way?

It probably opened my mind a little bit more. Since the show has come out, there’s been really positive feedback from people suffering from mental illness, and how they feel talking about it. Lifting the taboo on it is a very important step forward, so that people who are suffering from it can feel like it's normal. And obviously, for those caring for somebody who is mentally ill or even physically ill, the burden and torturous conflict you go through between love and hate. I think it's just made me more aware of how much more we have to do to lift the taboo of mental illness.

Given how the series touches on such difficult topics, did portraying and immersing yourself in the character of Dr. Patel seep into your personal life or affect you in any way?

A few of the scenes in which Dominick opens up about his past, particularly the one when he loses his daughter, was deeply disturbing. In that scene, Dr. Patel loses her mask a bit because I actually was quite affected in Mark's delivery. Mark undoubtedly has spoken about this as well, but he had a much tougher job on his hands than I did. I came in and out over the period of nine months, so I had enough time to recover from anything that I may have been affected by.

You must have been asked this question dozens of times by now, but what was it like to work with Mark Ruffalo in both his roles as Dominick and Thomas?

I didn’t get to see him as Thomas, although I did do a reading with Mark when I first met him to do the recording that we first witness in episode two. Mark has a very gentle energy about him. He’s incredibly wise, but he's also very gentle and very open. And I think he has this energy that most people could connect to. He's very accessible, even though he's an incredibly successful and great actor, he’s also very relatable and very grounded. So it was a very enjoyable experience being with him not only professionally, but also personally. He is very supportive and very giving to everybody on set.

What was the most fun experience while filming I Know This Much Is True?

Ironically, I think the most fun experience was probably the funeral scene even though it was terribly sad and was deeply upsetting. But what was fun about it was I got to meet Kathryn Hahn (who plays Dominick’s ex-wife Dessa) and got to spend time with Rosie O’ Donnell (who plays Thomas’s social worker Lisa) and so many other actors. Most of my scenes were two-handers with Mark and I, so it was really nice to spend time with the other actresses whom I admired so much.

When you look back at the series, what was the most memorable experience that you had?

Well I always wanted to work with Derek Cianfrance. I love his style, it's very immersive. He really challenges every creative bone you have in the body because he doesn't like to rehearse, he doesn't like to have line runs. And so when you do a scene, you make mistakes and you incorporate them in the scene. It’s a very, very exciting process, and I think I learned a lot about my craft. Also, having the opportunity to work with the master of his craft, Mark Ruffalo, was an incredible experience for me.

How different was the process of the show compared to anything you've done before? For example, you mentioned that the director has made you to jump in the take with no rehearsals. How different was that feeling of having to improvise things for you?

I love that style. It's very reminiscent of the work that inspired me when I was very young as an actress. Filmmakers like Ken Loach and Mike Lee love that that sort of raw, authentic style and performance. For me, working on this was like a dream come true, because you don't know what's going to happen. You don't have people coming in to touch you up for your hair and makeup. You don't have much crew on set. Everything about it is meant to create such an authentic feel that it is daunting. But I think you rely on your instinct and on the energy of the other actor.

It's a very, very creatively nourishing, fulfilling feeling when you get it right. However, it's very different to most of the stuff I've done in America. This is one of the first projects I've ever done in America, which has adopted this style. But I love it, I feel very at home with it.

Asian representation and representation of people of colour in general is getting a lot of attention in the US film industry. As an Asian actor, how do you feel about this? Do you feel any difference when you started your career regarding this issue, versus now?

Well, at the age of 13, when I was in England, starting out there, there were literally no roles for somebody like me. And I was so eager. I was so keen to become an actress that I had to write to people to be seen for roles. So we have definitely, you know, come a long way from that. But I don't feel that there are enough prominent roles 20 years on for people of colour, for all diversities, for the disabled, for the LGBTQ community, for women or those from different socio-economic backgrounds. I don’t think that the media fully reflects the society that we live in. It is changing, and hopefully there are going to be even more changes in time to come.

What advice would you give to a young actor of Asian descent or a person of colour who's trying to make it in a TV or film industry in this day and age?

I would say that if you're going to enter this industry, have a Plan B, because from what I understand, 80 percent of people pursuing this career at any time are out of work. It's a very competitive industry. And they should also not be afraid of rejection. Every single actor that you can think of has been through it, and it is just part and parcel of the journey. Thirdly, they have to enjoy the journey. You can't control the end result of the work that you do, but you can enjoy the journey that you go on before the project comes out. So enjoy each project you do.

You’re from London and you’ve worked in both the UK and US, what makes working in the US so different, and how come you’re based there now?

I love both London and America, I never felt that London gave me the opportunities or the roles that I wanted. I feel like a lot of actors from diverse backgrounds do feel that. When I finished The Good Wife I found a lot more opportunities here. I did go back to England and I still felt that I wasn’t being offered the kind of work that I wanted to do. I think that’s slowly changing, but I feel whatever we say about America, it is the land of opportunity. Of course we need to do a lot more here for roles for people from diverse backgrounds, but I definitely feel the opportunities were more here than they were in England.

You mentioned earlier that about how there still weren’t enough prominent roles being offered to you. What in your opinion would be the sort of perfect role you would go for?

I feel like I am grateful for the opportunities that I have got and I'm continuing to get. So I admit that I made that more as a general statement rather than a personal one. I love the way the industry sees me and what they throw my way. For me, it's about being versatile, just playing a different character every time, something that's unique and different rather than having the ideal role.

Because of the pandemic, filming and production have been halted. As an actress who has worked in the industry for years, how do you see this situation and how do you think this industry will adapt to the new normal?

I have many friends who are nurses, who are shop assistants, who are carers who have worked during this pandemic. And it has been very distressing. I mean, forget what I think, but hearing their stories has been very upsetting. Knowing what they're going through, I think in a way I feel more for people like that than I do for our industry.

Don't get me wrong, I love our industry and I think we will recover from it because even if everything is shut down, people continue to watch television. So I think once things get back to normal, I don't feel like we will be as affected as some other industries. In terms of myself, I mean what can you do? It's completely out of your control. It's given me time to reflect and try to, you know, reconnect with a lot of family.

You’ve got a role in Run, another HBO series. Could you tell us a bit more about that and what it was like playing Fiona?

It's about ex-lovers who meet up after 17 years to reunite. But one of them is now married with kids, and they go on this journey. I play Fiona, who is determined to break them up because the man, Billy, is my business partner. We’ve got very successful business going. So I go to every extreme I can to break that relationship up. It was it was a lot of fun to film. I mean, it was different from I Know This Much Is True, but it was a lot of fun to film.

The last episode of I Know This Much Is True aired on HBO on 15 June 2020, but is still available on HBO GO, together with Run.