Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Amiable memoir by the noted actor. “Acting is a peculiar profession,” writes MacLachlan. “You create another person who then exists, outside of you, in perpetuity….He’s not you, but people mistake him for you.” MacLachlan has created more than his share of memorable characters, for better (Jeffrey Beaumont, Dale Cooper) and occasionally worse. In the latter category falls Paul Atreides, the lead role in his debut film,Dune (1984). It helped, MacLachlan writes, that he had worshipped Frank Herbert’s novel since adolescence; even today, he writes, “I give his every word the weight of prophecy.” Alas, the David Lynch movie tanked, with Roger Ebert calling it “the worst film of the year.” Lynch recovered; MacLachlan took a little longer to get good roles again, writing ruefully, “you can actually put together a pretty good filmography of the movies I am rejected for, turn down, or get tossed from,” fromTop Gun toPlatoon,Miller’s Crossing, andSome Kind of Wonderful. Paired again with Lynch (who usually speaks in all caps in MacLachlan’s telling, as in “DO SOME NEW THINGS”), MacLachlan inhabited the role of Beaumont inBlue Velvet, learning invaluable lessons in acting from a now-sober Dennis Hopper. Another Lynchian triumph follows inTwin Peaks, which “is a rocket launched into space,” carrying with it MacLachlan as Cooper. Although he’s made many other films since, some admittedly not so good—“there will inevitably be bad ones,” he writes, singling outShowgirls as a case in point—he allows that it’s been a long haul to come to terms with the fact, as he writes, “thatTwin Peaks will be in the first line of my obituary.” He adds that he’s now glad at the prospect of being remembered for anything at all. It’s no stretch to include this book in that roster of successes. An entertaining and enlightening look at the sausage-making side of the film biz. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.