On a recent episode of Milk Street Radio, MacLachlan, who stars as Overseer Hank Maclean in the new Amazon Prime series Fallout, sat down with Christopher Kimball to discuss nearly 40 years as a working actor, his nature-based upbringing in the Pacific Northwest and the story behind his enigmatically-named wine brand.
Read excerpts from the interview below and listen to the full episode here.
On the symbolism of food in Twin Peaks
I definitely think the food was a very important part of the character. I played Dale Cooper, [and] his love for coffee and cherry pie [and] doughnuts, I think it really humanizes him in a way, and it also speaks to kind of a veneration I think of these things that are very important to him in a way that both affects his senses and what he feels is right and just and good.
You know, “a damn good cup of coffee” in his vernacular is an important thing, and an important thing to enjoy and embrace. And it really is one of the other things that says to me is that he is a person who's very much in the moment, so when he's experiencing something like a doughnut or a cherry pie or coffee, he is experiencing it completely and fully in that moment.
On the similarities between film and stage acting, and the thrill of performing live
[They are] kind of similar, actually. It's just the audience is the camera. But it's the same process. It's the same creation of reality. Stage is kind of wonderful because at eight o'clock, the curtain goes up and you launch and you're now airborne for an hour and a half of sustaining a performance. And film, of course, is broken up into much smaller pieces for the most part. But the beauty of stage is that you’re flying you know, and the actor is ultimately in control of what's happening. And that is a thrilling, frightening, amazing experience that is equal parts terrifying and also just absolutely satisfying.
On his outdoorsy upbringing in Washington state
I grew up in Yakima, Washington, and it's really a farming area, primarily fruit ranching. We were surrounded by fruit trees. In fact, growing up in my backyard, we had two Bartlett pear trees, a Winesap tree, which is an old, old varietal, and a Pippin as well. And these were left over from the orchard that had been there before they had built the development where I grew up. And my dad won many, many ribbons at the Central Washington State Fair for his dahlias—he would have the giant dinner plate-styled dahlias.
He tended these trees, and in the fall, we would harvest everything from the yard. And I remember my mom and my grandmother would journey down to some of the community canning facilities, and we would all prepare our peaches and our cherries and our pears and we would can them in those kind of giant silver cans that you'd fill with a cup of sugar. That's what you needed. And you'd stack it full of pears or peaches, and then they would run it through for you.
On naming his wine Pursued By Bear
It is a stage direction. And I think of the director reading the play for the first time, and they come up on that stage direction, they're scratching their head saying, “How am I going to make a bear work on stage and chase an actor off? Do we need a real bear? Do we dress someone up in a bear suit? Do we make it more of a symbolic bear? What are we going to do?” And I thought, well, that sort of is the same kind of reaction I think people had to me starting this wine brand. They said, “What on earth are you doing?”
I started in 2005, my first vintage was 2005. So when I was trying to find a name, I wanted something that was sort of a sideways nod to my day job as an actor. And when I was in school, I did a lot of Shakespeare. In fact, the first job I had out of school was at the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. So I really liked Shakespeare and I really enjoy it. But I just loved the name. And I said, if nothing else, it was going to give me a great visual for the label, which it did. So we were off and running.
On the making of a wine business
I don't own vineyards yet. That's a long-term goal. But I source all around the Columbia Valley with growers who I've had relationships with, some from the very beginning—a 15-year relationship. I have my rows already designated to me and my [cabernet] comes from a certain place, my merlot from another. And so the consistency, which is the important thing, is there because I'm not sort of willy nilly jumping all over the place. I'm pretty hands on. I'm part of the barrel trials, we do blending trials. I haven't stomped on any grapes yet. But it's not outside the realm of possibility. [Laughs] No, we actually don't stomp on the grapes, there's too many grapes to stomp. But it's been a wonderful journey, and one that I get to do kind of in the backyard where I grew up on in eastern Washington.
On the highs and lows of being an actor
I guess I'm just used to it now. I mean, I trained to be in the theater, and then movies kind of sideswiped me, thank God; it's a little bit of hand to mouth. Of course, when you're 20 or 19 or however old I was, you don’t think in those terms. You're just doing exactly what you want to do, that you love to do, and you'll do regardless.
Quotes have been edited for clarity.
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest.
And if you're looking for more Milk Street, check out our livestream cooking classes with our favorite chefs, home cooks and friends for global recipes, cooking methods and more.
