When I first heard about this new Showtime series, "United States of Tara," about a person with dissociative identity disorder (formerly called multiple personality disorder), played by Toni Collette, I was concerned about how it would handled.Toni Collette (pictured) in an interview with Parade magazine Jan. 11 says the show did lots of research and even had someone with dissociative identity disorder preview the show.
The show premieres on Showtime Jan. 18.
Here's the interview:
Less than six months after the birth of her first child in Australia, the tall and talented 36-year-old actress Toni Collette—of Little Miss Sunshine, Muriel’s Wedding, and The Sixth Sense, for which she earned an Oscar nomination—was back working on a new dark-comedy TV series for Showtime dealing with, of all things, mental illness.
How can you find humor in that?
“It is sensitive,” Collette admitted. “And when you get Steven Spielberg involved, and it’s his idea, and he’s always dropping by the set as executive producer, you do it very carefully.”
The show in question is called United States of Tara. Collette stars as a wife and mother plagued by what used to be called “multiple personalities” and now is known as dissociative identity disorder.
“You go with the gut,” the actress said. “Of course there was a lot of research. We all did the reading and had doctors who knew the disease available to us. There also was one woman who had the problem cooperating with us. She didn’t feel exploited but quite enjoyed the fact that we were doing something to bring it to people’s attention.”
In the plot, Tara, her two kids, and her husband (John Corbett, best known from Sex and the City) don’t know which identity, age, mood, or even gender Tara will have on a given day.
“The story is seen through the eyes of the whole family,” Collette said. “But the trouble [or fun?] starts when Mom goes off her meds.”
How was the audition process?
“I didn’t audition,” Collette said. “They wanted me. My agent sent me the script in Sydney, and I found it incredibly original, and I leaped at it.”
And does the cast get along?
“I was a fan of Sex and the City, but I didn’t know John before this,” she said. “He was so good in that and, much earlier, remember him in Northern Exposure? He’s a delight.”
The shooting is at what Collette said is “one of the oldest studios in Hollywood.
“They say that the ghost of Mary Pickford roams the building,” she added. “But I haven’t met her yet.”
