Throughout the course of his career, Kyle MacLachlan has played some pretty iconic roles.
These have ranged from the protagonists in David Lynch’s “Dune,” “Blue Velvet and, most famously, “Twin Peaks” FBI Agent Dale Cooper to the daffy mayor of Portland in “Portlandia” to Charlotte’s blue-blooded husband in “Sex and the City,” among others.
Had things gone another way, MacLachlan may have landed another famed TV role, which he discusses in his new memoir “Fictional Selves.”
The Role That Got Away
Writing in his book — via an excerpt published by Entertainment Weekly — the 67-year-old actor takes readers back to the early 2000s and the role that got away: Dr. McDreamy in “Grey’s Anatomy,” which ultimately went to Patrick Dempsey.
“It is 2004, and I am back in L.A., auditioning for a new ABC hospital show, this one set in the Seattle area,” MacLachlan writes.
“The part I’m reading for, Dr. Derek Shepherd, is in my general wheelhouse,” he continues. “I know this kind of guy. I can be this kind of guy.”
However, he also had some trepidation that he may not have been quite what producers were looking for.
“I don’t know if I have the requisite smolder appeal to get cast as this kind of guy,” he admits.
It All Worked Out for the Best
Recalling that his audition went “pretty well,” he also had a feeling he wasn’t going to get the part.
“I sense they want something more for this guy. Something dreamier. And that’s just never been in my comfort zone,” he continues.
According to MacLachlan, the romantic leading man parts were never really a good fit for him.
“I’d like to be the romantic lead, the heart-throb, but I don’t quite know how to do that. That thing,” he explains.
“I believe it’s a quality a person is born with; it might not be written in the character, but when the actor or actress has it, they become an object of desire for the audience,” he observes.
“I always feel that if I were to try to project that, I’d get laughed out of the room,” he adds. “I’ve got no problem believing I’m a malicious character, even a cartoonish one, but something about the smoldering type is beyond me. A certain kind of confidence is required to be that person, and I just don’t have it.”
However, around that same time he landed a role on another ABC hit: “Desperate Housewives,” in which he portrayed Orson Hodge. Starting in Season 3 and recurring through to Season 8, Orson was initially positioned as a love interest for Susan Meyer (Teri Hatcher) before ultimately revealed to be a violent con artist who attempts to blackmail Bree (Marcia Cross) and is suspected of being a murderer by pretty much everyone on Wisteria Lane.
As MacLachlan writes, Orson was far more in his wheelhouse than Dr. McDreamy.
“Look, I tried,” he explains in his new memoir. “We can’t all be the dreamy type. But the friendly new neighbor who maybe murdered his wife? Yep, that’s me.”
“Fictional Selves” is in bookstores now.
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Kyle MacLachlan Reveals He Auditioned for ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ But Producers Wanted Someone ‘Dreamier’