Kyle MacLachlan stopped by the Today show to discuss his new memoir.
The actor’s Fictional Selves is set for publication Tuesday by Crown. In the book, MacLachlan tells the story of his career in Hollywood, appearing in films including Dune and Blue Velvet and the cult-classic TV series Twin Peaks. A critic for Kirkus called the book “an entertaining and enlightening look at the sausage-making side of the film biz.”
Today show co-host Craig Melvin asked MacLachlan how the memoir came to be.
“Fictional Selves tells the story of my journey in the business, and part of it is the relationship that I have with the fans,” MacLachlan said. “The shows that I’ve been on, the things that people remember are really indelible. They really resonate with people. So often when they meet me, they’ll come up, and it’s not Kyle, it’s ‘Trey!’Or ‘Orson!”Or ‘Coop!’And I love that, but it comes with its own kind of baggage.…And I took that idea, and we turned it into a memoir.”
Melvin observed that writing the memoir could be “cathartic on some level.”
“One of the things about a memoir that was very important to me—I said, ‘If I’m going to tell the story of my journey, then I want it to also include not just the highs but the lows as well: some of the decisions, some of the behavior that was not necessarily me at my best,’” MacLachlan replied. “I said, ‘This has to be all out there, because otherwise, what’s the use of doing it?’”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
