Kyle MacLachlan is 67 years old today. He was born on 22 February 1959.
MacLachlan is an interesting actor. He is a skilled actor. But we know him because he played odd characters. And sure, any professional actor can play weirdos. But some actors just click in such roles. Steve Buscemi comes to mind. But he is odd-looking. And he didn’t get his teeth fixed. MacLachlan is arguably attractive enough to be a star. But the weird trumps it for some reason.
I always associate MacLachlan with David Lynch. And not just any David Lynch. I associate him with the most accessible David Lynch. I first noticed him in Dune. And I became a fan with Blue Velvet. He charmed the world in Twin Peaks, before people realized that Lynch had again bitten off more than he could chew. The show was the ur-Lost — but it didn’t even try to make sense after the first season.
But Kyle MacLachlan starred in the perfect film in 1987, The Hidden. And by “perfect,” I mean perfect for him. The character is so much odder than anything else he got to do. The only real exception is Zack Carey in Showgirls. The problem there is that the film is so high-brow, you don’t even notice it!
(That was a joke about Showgirls. I am not a fan of the film. It isn’t bad. It’s just not my thing. Had a giant space alien insect climbed out of Elizabeth Berkley’s mouth, I would have loved it — naked or fully clothed!)
Since those days, MacLachlan has worked primarily as a character actor. So there aren’t a lot of great options for a film to watch right now. And frankly, it doesn’t matter. There’s really only one of his films I care about deeply. And I don’t care if I highlighted it four months ago. Not enough people have seen The Hidden. So watch it now!
Image cropped from Kyle MacLachlan by Georges Biard under CC BY-SA 3.0.