Kyle MacLachlan was David Lynch’s ‘submersible’ into dark places

Terry Gross (0:00)

This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross.

SPEAKER_2 (0:03)

Diane, 1130 a.m., February 24th. Entering the town of Twin Peaks. It's five miles south of the Canadian border, 12 miles west of the state line. Never seen so many trees in my life. As WC. Fields would say, I'd rather be here than Philadelphia. 54 degrees on a slightly overcast day, with a man said rain. You can't pay that kind of money for being wrong 60% of the time in me working.

My ledge is 79,345 gauges on reserve.

Terry Gross (0:36)

You may recognize that as my guest, Kyle MacLachlan, in the first episode of the David Lynch TV series, Twin Peaks, as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper recording a message as he drives. At the time, Twin Peaks was the strangest, most dreamlike series ever on TV, like a lot of dreams, the meaning of the imagery and story were often elliptical, hard to interpret. To everyone's surprise, Twin Peaks became a big hit. MacLachlan says he wouldn't have become the person he is without David Lynch. Just months after acting school, MacLachlan seemed destined for a meteoric rise. Lynch was making an adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel, Dune, and he cast the young MacLachlan as the lead. Along with the part came a multi-picture deal with its producer, Dino De Laurentiis.

After the movie flopped, the deal was canceled. MacLachlan had to rewrite his plans and wasn't sure how. His next break came when Lynch cast him in Blue Velvet, which was a turning point in American film for its nightmarish imagery and threatening performances. Lynch and MacLachlan teamed up again for the TV series Twin Peaks and the return of Twin Peaks, and for the Twin Peaks movie Fire Walk With Me.

While MacLachlan was writing his new memoir, Lynch died. The memoir is called Fictional Selves. The title is a reference to who people think he is, based on his roles and who he really is, and how confusing that can be for him. You may also know Kyle MacLachlan from his roles, including Showgirls, Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives, Portlandia, Overcompensating, and Fallout.

Kyle MacLachlan, welcome to Fresh Air and congratulations on your memoir.

Kyle MacLachlan (2:25)

I'm very grateful to be here and thank you for having me on the show.

Terry Gross (2:28)

So in the scene we just heard, David Lynch was in the backseat of the car directing you, as you read the message you were recording. Do you remember what kind of direction he was giving you from the backseat?

Kyle MacLachlan (2:45)

Well, I don't recall the specifics of it, but I do recall that the distance that we had to travel, because we were on a tow rig, basically. So my vehicle was being towed by a vehicle in front of me.

Terry Gross (2:59)

So you didn't have to really drive?

Kyle MacLachlan (3:00)

I didn't have to really drive, which is very disconcerting, to be honest. Because when you're behind the wheel of a car, you feel like you should be driving. In fact, you're just putting your hands on the wheel, you're not really driving. It's a little different, it's a little distracting.

After I got over that and just started in with the dialogue, the other challenge was that we only had a short distance to make this run. And so I had to basically just blister through the dialogue, which I think was ultimately helpful in establishing the character. I've always said that that introduction is certainly the best introduction to a film or a television program I've ever had. And I think it ranks pretty high as an introduction to any character, because you get so much of who he is about in a short period of time. And the eccentricities and the strangeness of who this man is, it just deepens the mystery.

Terry Gross (3:56)

Is it reassuring to have your director in the back seat, or does it make you more self-conscious?

Kyle MacLachlan (4:02)

It's both.

First of all, and we'll get into David in our relationship, but having him near always made me feel better. So that wasn't even part of it, because I never felt there was judgment coming from David. It was always just joy and pleasure. In a strange way, I think the pressure was really sort of self-delivered by me. And it's like, I want to do a great job here, and I want to get everything the way I imagine it to be. And David's help and input was always to expand what I'd started, and just more to think about more colors, more ideas, more suggestions about how to really deepen and enrich the character, the scene, the moment, whatever it might call for.