Kyle MacLachlan Remembers David Lynch in Moving Tribute: ‘I Owe My Entire Career to His Vision’
Kyle MacLachlan’s life was forever changed when David Lynch took a chance on the young, unknown actor and gave him the lead role in his 1984 film Dune. Undeterred by that box office disaster, Lynch turned to him again in 1986 for his psychological thriller Blue Velvet, where he played a college student who uncovers a criminal conspiracy. And just four years later, Lynch cast him as FBI special agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peeks, a role he revived in the 2017 Twin Peaks revival series.
Simply put, their lives have been intertwined for the past four decades, and it’s difficult to think of one without the other. When the news of Lynch’s death hit on Thursday, MacLachlan posted a moving tribute to his friend and mentor on Instagram, along with photos of them together over the years. Here it is in full.
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Forty-two years ago, for reasons beyond my comprehension, David Lynch plucked me out of obscurity to star in his first and last big budget movie. He clearly saw something in me that even I didn’t recognize. I owe my entire career, and life really, to his vision.
What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to.
Our friendship blossomed on Blue Velvet and then Twin Peaks and I always found him to be the most authentically alive person I’d ever met.
David was in tune with the universe and his own imagination on a level that seemed to be the best version of human. He was not interested in answers because he understood that questions are the drive that make us who we are. They are our breath.
While the world has lost a remarkable artist, I’ve lost a dear friend who imagined a future for me and allowed me to travel in worlds I could never have conceived on my own.
I can see him now, standing up to greet me in his backyard, with a warm smile and big hug and that Great Plains honk of a voice. We’d talk coffee, the joy of the unexpected, the beauty of the world, and laugh.
His love for me and mine for him came out of the cosmic fate of two people who saw the best things about themselves in each other.
I will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell and my heart can bear. My world is that much fuller because I knew him and that much emptier now that he’s gone.
David, I remain forever changed, and forever your Kale. Thank you for everything.
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