Kyle MacLachlan
Appearances
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
Here we go for today's number. It's December 16, 2022. Ten balls. Each ball has a number. Numbers one through ten. Swirl the numbers. Pick a number. Today's number is one.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
Oh, I don't know. I know that he likes Raising Arizona and he likes the Coen brothers. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, though. I ran into David a couple of times once I ran into him at Thrifty Drug and Discount Store, and I was looking for some cold medication for my girlfriend at the time. And he said, hello.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
And then I ran into him at an old restaurant here in Hollywood called Musso and Frank's Bar and Grill. And he said, Nick. And I turned around, and there was David Lynch, and I thought he was Jimmy Stewart. And he looks a hell of a lot like Jimmy Stewart. And after that, I heard about the book Wild at Heart and that he wanted me to read it.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
And we talked about possibly making it into a movie, and it all came together.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
Well, you know, I think the dream state is a wonderful playground, and it gives an actor license to do just about anything, which is a hell of a lot of fun for me, because I was starting to feel kind of stagnated, and...
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
uh kind of just locked into this whole naturalism thing and uh i started looking for scripts such as vampire's kiss which a lot of it happens in the hallucinatory state or the psychotic dream state and peggy sue got married which also uh was sort of a dream state if you will from kathleen turner's point of view
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
And then David, who has this very specific world that he creates, is almost always in that kind of higher reality, if you will, kind of dream state. So it's a very liberating thing to be able to work in that kind of a format. The problem with it, though, is that there are very few movies which allow for that kind of behavior to basically let go and try new things.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
So, you know, you have to sort of go back to your roots or naturalism, if you will.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
Well, you know, the biggest adventure for me was that I had to sing. And I'm not a singer, and I only sang once before, and that was in Peggy Sue Got Married. And the character wasn't supposed to sing very well, so I wasn't too nervous about it. But David is a huge lover of music. and he wanted me to sing two Elvis songs. And at best, my singing sounds like a barking dog, so I was pretty nervous.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
And I think that was a little bit of an adventure right there, to be able to pull that together with him.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
Well, the thing about Sailor is he does sort of have this adopted Elvis essence to him. And David really wanted that to come through with the character. It's kind of a chancy thing, you know, because... People might look at it and say, oh, that's a caricature of Elvis Presley, but actually it's more of a tone thing, if you will, you know, kind of just an idea, a mood.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
And so I went ahead and sort of adopted some of Elvis Presley's mannerisms and vocal intonations.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
Well, you know, kind of like all that, how you doing, baby? Keep them white panties on.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
Well, you know, that's a good question because during the whole making of the movie, David's process with the actors, with everybody, the set people and the designers, is very positive and up and fun-spirited. So... Here's a bunch of people having a hell of a good time working together. And then you see the movie and there's some moments that are truly terrifying.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
And I wonder how those moments were spawned out of such a kind of a jolly time.
Fresh Air
Remembering David Lynch
Well, there's a moment in the movie where Harry Dean Stanton gets his head blown off. It just smells like black magic and ritual, and it's pretty scary.