The character who inspired Dougie in ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’
Some 25 years after the ending of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s hugely successful mystery drama series Twin Peaks, the pair returned for a third follow-up series entitled The Return. The show featured many of the same cast members, most notably Kyle MacLachlan as Agent Cooper (and various other formations of his character). However, it also brought in new characters, such as long-time Lynch collaborators Laura Dern as the previously elusive Diane and Naomi Watts as Janey-E Jones.
The show, a slow and suspenseful masterpiece that weaves countless characters through a surreal nightmare, was critically praised. In comparison to the kitsch campiness of the original two seasons, The Return is a lot darker, even described as “pure Lynchian horror”.
Lynch and Frost’s haunting work is divided into 18 episodes. However, they are intended to work as one long 18-hour film. It is an impressive feat that the pair could make such a lengthy series of events play out so flawlessly; not only is it intricately crafted and well-acted, but also visually stunning.
One of the standout characters from the large ensemble cast is Dougie Jones, also played by MacLachlan. Dougie looks just like Agent Cooper, of course, but he seems to be a completely different person. Whereas Cooper was charming and suave, Dougie is a clumsy robot, only reacting to others around him.
In classic Lynchian style, we are not given what he desires in the fan-favourite Agent Cooper. Instead, we have a weird version of him that reminds us of Cooper’s lacking presence. Dougie walks around like a child trapped in an adult’s body, amazed by small discoveries and unaware of what’s going on around him.
Dougie is revealed to be a ‘tupla’, a form of doppelgänger that is “manufactured from a seed and organic material from the template – such as hair – and they could retain memories from their templates.”
In a recent Criterion video, MacLachlan takes control of the movie-filled cupboard to talk about some of his favourites. He picks out both The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet and discusses his love for working with Lynch, referring to it as “playtime” rather than actual work.
However, another one of his picks allows us greater insight into the character that inspired his performance as Dougie. It is none other than Being There by Hal Ashby from 1979, which stars Peter Sellers as an unselfconscious gardener named Chance. Seller’s character, who had little contact with the outside world apart from through radio and television, naturally inspired the characterisation of Dougie.
MacLachlan says: “The child-like quality that he had in his eyes and just the wonder and the way he looked at the world, it was very helpful to me.”
Watch the full video below to see the rest of MacLachlan’s picks.
