Harry Connick, Jr. picked psychiatrist sister's brain for Fear of Rain

Harry Connick Jr. quizzed his psychiatrist sister as part of his research for his role for new movie Fear of Rain.

The Dolphin Tale star plays the father of a schizophrenic daughter in the new psychological thriller, and he was able to get a head start on his understanding of the mental illness just from talking to his sibling.

"I did a lot of research... My sister's a psychiatrist, and I called her to ask her to tell me anything and everything she could about people who suffer with schizophrenia," he told U.S. breakfast show Today.

"She did, and I did a lot of reading, and watched TED Talks (videos from expert speakers), and tried to educate myself as much as I could," he went on.

Recalling that he learned how "people who are suffering with this mental illness are truly suffering" Connick said he and the movie's creators were intent on representing the condition accurately.

"We wanted to make sure that we portrayed it as realistically as we could, and I think our writer and director (Castille Landon) did an absolutely incredible job of doing just that," he explained.

Fear of Rain co-stars Katherine Heigl as Connick, Jr.'s movie wife, and Madison Iseman as their daughter.