During a Q&A session at the FBI Film on Film Festival on Sunday night, June 15, following a special 35mm screening of the Twin Peaks pilot, 66-year-old American actor Kyle MacLachlan revealed he “borrowed some mannerisms” from the late director David Lynch to shape the character of Dale Cooper.
MacLachlan stated, “I didn’t really study an FBI agent or anything like that, I kind of just created my own version. But I did borrow from David a bit, I borrowed some of his mannerisms.”
He elaborated, “He has great enthusiasm for certain things, you know? Trees and coffee, of course, and pie. Some of the things that he just loved. And he’s so childlike in his wonder of these things, and I wanted to have a little bit of that in Cooper.”
The Blue Velvet star also credited Lynch, who passed away on January 16, 2025, at 78, for giving him his debut film role as the lead in the 1984 movie Dune.
They collaborated again in 1984 on Blue Velvet and subsequently Twin Peaks, during which the Lost Highway director affectionately nicknamed MacLachlan “Kale.”
Recalling his very first screen test for Dune, MacLachlan remarked, “He always had confidence in me, even when I was uncertain.”
The Fallout actor recounted, “I lost my focus and kind of put my head down and said, ‘I don’t know if I can do this.’ And he came up to me and said, ‘Kale, you’re going to be great.’”
He continued, “You got this. Take a minute, start when you want.’ I’m like, ‘OK.’ Something about him and just absolute belief. And I finished the scene and got cast in ‘Dune,’ and that started our relationship.”
It is worth noting that Kyle MacLachlan and David Lynch also reunited for the third season of Twin Peaks in 2017.
