AT HIS PEAK
Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan talks internet theories, evil doppelgangers and the revamp’s catchphrase,
Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for Twin Peaks: The Return.
For the record, Kyle MacLachlan doesn’t know what year this is, either. The American actor is almost as mystified as Peaks freaks were Sunday night, as the revived TV drama came to a shattering conclusion after 18 episodes of gonzo mystery.
His character, stalwart FBI agent Dale Cooper, opened a chasm of new conspiracy theories by uttering the meme-worthy query: “What year is this?”
“They knew that was going to be the new catchphrase: from ‘How’s Annie?’ to ‘What year is this?’” MacLachlan says during a Toronto promotional visit.
The affable MacLachlan, 58, insists he’s not privy to many answers about what’s going on in Twin Peaks, even if he does live on the same L.A. street as writer/ director Lynch. There’s no word of a fourth season, but he’s game if Lynch is.
MacLachlan does have a theory that will twirl the beanie propellers of Peaks freaks: he thinks The Return ended with the introduction of a fourth version of Agent Cooper. “Yes, there’s Dougie, Mr. C, Cooper and then the last, Richard/Coop, whatever he is,” MacLachlan says.
“He’s sort of a variation of Cooper. Slightly darker, maybe, somehow.”
He’s ready to answer more questions, as best he can, while sipping on a mug of java and preparing to tuck into cherry pie.
I can’t think of a more depressing moment in TV fiction than the night in 1991, when Twin Peaks fans saw Dale Cooper become inhabited by evil spirit Killer BOB — and then he’s trapped behind the red curtain for the next 26 years while the series abruptly ended. Were you as bummed as everybody else?
I didn’t really think much about it. I was just excited as an actor at the possibility of taking on that new incarnation, whatever it is, a BOB, as now Cooper’s inhabited by BOB and what it was going to mean for me as an actor. That’s exciting. And then of course, it just sort of languished.
You’ve been sort of revving your engines for the past 26 years or so.
Yes, exactly! I’ve been wanting to try and get behind and inside that character, whatever David Lynch and Mark Frost create.
I have to admit that I came to like Evil Cooper, even though he was a serious badass. Am I a bad person for saying this?
I think he kind of grew on people and I’ll tell you the turning point. I think it’s when he went up against (a big thug) in the arm-wrestling scene and people were like, ‘C’mon, Evil Cooper!’ Because he’s obviously the underdog in that situation.
That guy could beat me, Kyle, in a minute. But I think people felt like they were starting to root for Evil Cooper. And in a way, I’m not saying everything Evil Cooper did was justified, but if you think back on it, the people that he took out were threatening him.
WhenTwin Peaks originally launched people stood around real water coolers the next day to talk about the show. Since then, we have the electronic water cooler known as the Internet. Did you follow all the fan chatter and wild theories?
I followed along a little bit, just some of the fan comments and things. I was aware of what people were talking about and their confusions, but I never really ventured in to try to explain or make clear. I didn’t feel like that was really my place, necessarily. And I think everyone’s reactions were legitimate and have a place.
Could you sense the fan cheers online when Agent Cooper delivers the fist-pumping line “I am the FBI” in Episode 16?
I figured it would be a pretty strong reaction. I wanted to make sure I delivered it as simply and as straightforward as possible. And that whole sequence was just an exercise in how Cooper is able to move through the world very succinctly, precisely, with kindness but gently and firmly, getting everyone to do what he needed to do.
Is there a point when you’re working with a director as out-there as David Lynch where you just say, “OK, I can’t understand it, so I’m just going to do it.” Did you have to make a decision to just roll with it?
As long as I have an understanding of what I’m supposed to do as the character and what the scene is about, what I’m needed for, I’m fine. The larger canvas is something that I concern myself less with, particularly with David, because I know he’s got that covered. With other directors I want to know more, so that I can also participate in the painting of that. But with David I’m confident that he’s got all of that covered.
Do you have any idea what the soot-covered chief Woodsman was going on about in that very creepy Episode 8 of The Return, when he gets on the radio and starts chanting, “This is the water and this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within”?
It’s very creepy, but I have no idea where it comes from. It sounds like it’s a mantra or a chant or something. But just the whole visual of the Woodsmen, when I first saw them. . . . And it was just incredibly arresting, disturbing, it stops you. Because they really were completely black (covered in soot). The only thing you saw were their eyes and when they open their mouths. . . . My first thought, of course, was, “You guys are going to be in the shower a long time taking all this off.”
As a movie critic, I don’t think of
Twin Peaks: The Return as a TV series. I think of it as an 18-hour movie.
I think that’s the way David intended it. If you’re puzzled by all of the above, you can binge on or catch up on Twin Peaks:
The Return on CraveTV, along with all episodes of the first two seasons.