A damn fine performance: Kyle MacLachlan shares “the most important role” of his career
When Kyle MacLachlan was in college, he acted in various plays, having expressed an interest in the art form since he was a teenager. Then, during one fateful performance of Tartuffe, MacLachlan was spotted by Dino de Laurentiis, a prolific producer, who was looking for a fresh new face.
The actor was in disbelief when he was contacted by a casting agent, but before he knew it, he was auditioning in a hotel room and subsequently landed the part. MacLachlan went from starring in modest college plays to leading David Lynch’s third feature, Dune, in the blink of an eye. “How that happened, I have no idea,” MacLachlan joked in an interview with GQ. He’d never done anything quite like it, but he was already a fan of Dune, so he was delighted to be able to actually play Paul Atreides.
The movie was a huge failure, with even the biggest Lynch fans labelling it as a bit of a write-off. Still, MacLachlan and Lynch teamed up again for Blue Velvet, which saw him play a curious college student who gets himself involved in a seedy underworld after he discovers a severed ear. The success of the movie helped to kick MacLachlan’s career into action, and since then, he’s appeared in a range of movies and television shows.
He’s played keyboardist Ray Manzarek in The Doors, Charlotte’s uptight and upper-class husband in Sex and the City, the mysterious and complex Orson Hodge in Desperate Housewives and Zack Carey in the universally-panned Showgirls. However, his most recognisable role is arguably FBI Agent Dale Cooper in Lynch’s television series Twin Peaks, which he reprised in the prequel film Fire Walk With Me and the third season, The Return, 25 years later.
MacLachlan’s performance won him a Golden Globe, and he is largely regarded as the greatest character on the show. Cooper leads the series, driving into the town of Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of the homecoming queen, Laura Palmer. During his time there, he finds himself entangled in a web of crime and bizarre happenings. Cooper is comical (often unintentionally), obsessed with coffee, and dedicated to his job, getting himself into situations he shouldn’t because of his desire to figure out the truth.
With an ensemble cast ranging from the mysterious Log Lady to the loveable Sheriff Andy, there are so many characters that threaten to take the crown as the best, and while we all have our own favourites, it’s not hard to see why Cooper is so universally loved.
For MacLachlan, the role has been “the most important in my career, to date – probably for the whole career.” He explained in his interview with GQ that he had “no real expectations” when making the pilot, assuming it would just become a two-hour standalone TV movie if it didn’t get picked up. Luckily, ABC loved it, with MacLachlan revealing, “everything shifted, there was an explosion, and we were right at the top of this incredible wave. It was pretty amazing.”
The actor also discussed how he brought the tricky character to life, explaining that he “found him as we filmed the pilot,” because “he wasn’t exactly sure who he was.” MacLachlan mastered the role perfectly, and his strong rapport with Lynch helped him to understand just what Coop was all about.
