“Fictional Selves, a Memoir” by Kyle MacLachlan

From the front flap (1):

“Everywhere I go, I am followed by a mystery man. He looks like me—but not quite. . .  On talk shows, I sip coffee on couches and pretend to be him; on social media, I put on his mask to engage in suburban silliness. . .  And of course, we work together. But for him, the movies and TV shows never end. . . Where does this guy—this Kyle MacLachlan—end, and where do I begin? And is he even real? And, holy mackerel. . . am I?

To be in the black suit or not to be? Kyle MacLachlan’s funny, moving, and playfully self-aware memoir charts a career that could belong to no other. Plucked from obscurity to star in David Lynch’s Dune, the Hollywood blockbuster that never was, MacLachlan rebounded with a startling performance in Lynch’s provocative masterpiece Blue Velvet, which would mark him as a master of the unusual and ultimately lead to his career-defining role as Agent Dale Cooper on the TV sensation Twin Peaks.

Fictional Selves is a book of doppelgängers, with MacLachlan mirrored by his own prodding ego (“Other Kyle”), the iconic characters he inhabited, and the ones that eluded his grasp but gave him a profound and surprising lens through which to see himself as a person and a performer.” (1).

Comment: Doppelgängers are alternate personalities. Search “Actors” in this blog for relevant past posts.

1. Kyle MacLachlan. Fictional Selves, a Memoir. New York, Crown, 2026.