Not only did David Lynch create the world of “Twin Peaks,” but his personality inspired Kyle MacLachlan‘s performance as Special Agent Dale Cooper.
During a Q&A at the BFI Film on Film Festival Sunday night after a special 35mm screening of the “Twin Peaks” pilot episode — which MacLachlan hadn’t watched since its premiere in 1990 — the actor revealed that he “borrowed some mannerisms” from Lynch when crafting the character of Cooper.
“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,” MacLachlan said. “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.”
MacLachlan credits Lynch, who died in January at the age of 78, with his career. The director gave MacLachlan his first film credit — and lead role — with his 1984 film adaptation of “Dune,” and the two worked together again on 1986’s “Blue Velvet” before filming “Twin Peaks.” MacLachlan even earned one of Lynch’s legendary nicknames, with the director calling him “Kale” alongside Laura Dern’s “Tidbit” and Naomi Watts’ “Buttercup.” Remembering Lynch during the Q&A, MacLachlan said he “always had trust in me.”
“He always had confidence in me, even when I was uncertain,” MacLachlan said, recalling his first-ever screen test for “Dune” where he had to deliver a monologue directly into the camera.
“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. You got this. Take a minute, start when you want.’ I’m like, ‘OK.’ Something about him and just absolute belief,” he said. “And I finished the scene and got cast in ‘Dune,’ and that started our relationship.”
MacLachlan and Lynch got to return to “Twin Peaks” in 2017 for a long-awaited third season, which MacLachlan called “the most special thing.”
“I got to work with my best friend and do things that I had not been asked to do before,” he said, referring to Cooper’s multiple alter egos that he played in the season. “I got up every morning, 4 o’clock in the morning having coffee in my kitchen, and I would just say, ‘I’m going to work today with David.’ And I just felt incredibly blessed.”
MacLachlan continued: “I’d see him on set and be like, ‘This is going to be a great day. I love David, I love what we’re doing so much.’ Even when I was getting massaged by heavy, bearded men rubbing blood all over my body and face. It was still, ‘David, I love you.’”
Also during the Q&A, the BFI announced that it will honor Lynch with a special season dedicated to his work in January 2026. The season, details of which will be revealed in the fall, will include screenings of the director’s features, shorts, music videos and beloved “Weather Reports,” as well as Q&As with those who knew him best.
“There’s nobody like him. There will never be anyone like him,” MacLachlan said of Lynch. “He saw the world in a very particular way. I had my personal relationship with him and I love him dearly and I miss him dearly. He really started me off. But his message and his art, film, television, painting, everything, is so special and it speaks to a real deeper part of us in a way that no one else does. He’s just magic.”
