Abbie Cornish Gets Emotional as Anna Nicole Smith in First Clip From ‘Trust Me, I’m a Doctor’

Anna Nicole Smith’s story has been retold on screen again and again. Lifetime made a 2013 biopic starring Agnes Bruckner, directed by Mary Harron, and Netflix released the documentary ‘Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me’ in 2023. Now a new Anna Nicole Smith biopic is close to hitting theaters, and it takes an unusual angle.

‘Trust Me, I’m a Doctor’ stars Abbie Cornish as Smith, opposite Kal Penn as her physician, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor. Cornish, an Australian actress known for ‘Somersault’, ‘Bright Star’ and ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’, was seen in set photos recreating Smith’s outfit at a 2005 Pride parade, and a first look in July showed her transformation.

Now, an emotional new scene has arrived. TMZ obtained the first clip from the film, and the still shared online shows Cornish with blonde hair lying in a hospital bed, looking off to the side.

In the scene, Smith is crying in a hospital bed and telling her doctor that she feels like she cannot help but mess things up. Penn’s Kapoor listens as she emotionally says that having her son, Daniel, was the best thing she has ever done.

She adds that she wants to bring something good into the world. Daniel died in 2006, just after her daughter Dannielynn was born, which adds weight to the moment.

Penn has been effusive about his co-star. He told Variety that Cornish “really embodied Anna Nicole in a very striking way.”

Penn said he briefly met Smith a handful of times when he was starting his career, and that seeing Cornish brought him back to that time. He said she avoided turning Smith into a caricature and brought the heart, vulnerability and complexity of the real person.

The film focuses on Kapoor, who was charged with several felonies related to prescribing medications to Smith before her death in 2007. He was cleared of any wrongdoing and acquitted of all charges after a 9-week trial.

That angle is already controversial. Larry Birkhead, Dannielynn’s father, is reportedly unhappy about the movie and has said Kapoor has been milking Smith’s death for 2 decades.

In 2017, Kapoor also drew headlines when he said during an interview for the Reelz docuseries ‘Scandal Made Me Famous’ that he did not believe Smith was an addict.

‘Trust Me, I’m a Doctor’ is not the only film about Smith heading to screens. ‘Hurricanna’, directed by Francesca Gregorini, stars Sylvia Hoeks as Smith alongside Holly Hunter, Mark Duplass and Nicholas Hamilton, and is scheduled for a US release on November 13.

Magenta Light Studios acquired that film, according to Deadline. With two big-screen projects landing within a month of each other, Smith’s legacy is getting another round of pop culture scrutiny.

Briarcliff Entertainment, led by Tom Ortenberg, is releasing ‘Trust Me, I’m a Doctor’ exclusively in theaters. The film opens on October 16.

The movie’s first look drew attention in July, when Entertainment Tonight described Cornish as unrecognizable. The new clip suggests the film aims for more than imitation.

Because the film is told through Kapoor’s story, viewers will likely be watching to see how it balances sympathy for Smith with the doctor’s perspective. The clip suggests the film wants to show her vulnerability as much as the tabloid persona.

Whether that approach lands with audiences and with the people close to Smith remains to be seen, especially given the pushback already in the headlines.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments.