Dune 1984 star Kyle MacLachlan was outcast by Hollywood after the film's box office failure. Nearly four decades before director Denis Villeneuve's Dune, which was a resounding success with both critics and audiences, the entertainingly enigmatic David Lynch first brought Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel to the big screen in 1984. This version, which attempted to adapt the entire book in its whittled-down 137-minute runtime, is widely regarded as a flop, as it failed to make back its $40 million budget at the box office and was eviscerated by critics.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
In his screen debut, MacLachlan led the Dune 1984 cast as Paul Atreides alongside Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen, José Ferrer, Sting, Linda Hunt, and Max von Sydow. Shortly after its release, Lynch publicly disowned Dune, revealing he did not have final cut privileges which allowed Universal and producers to make significant changes to the film during post-production without the director's consent. Over the years, 1984's Dune has garnered a large cult following, especially with Villeneuve's version inspiring audiences to revisit Lynch's attempted take on the source material.
During a new episode of the Criterion Collection's Closet Picks series, MacLachlan reflected on Dune's failure and how it impacted his career. The actor admitted the film "didn’t really turn out that well,” and in turn, he was outcast by Hollywood and unable to find work for several years. Read what MacLachlan said below:
Dune didn’t really turn out that well. In fact, after that, I kind of felt like a pariah in business. No work, no nothing.
With Dune almost ending MacLachlan's career before it even started, it was Lynch who gave the young actor an opportunity to redeem himself. MacLachlan's second on-screen role was Lynch's 1986 film Blue Velvet, which suffered postponements due to Dune's failure. As "traumatic" as MacLachlan's screen debut was for him, the actor admits, he considers Blue Velvet his "rebirth." After that, MacLachlan and Lynch went on to collaborate on the 1989 television series Twin Peaks with the actor reprising his role as FBI Agent Dale Cooper for the 1992 prequel film Fire Walk with Me and the recent Showtime revival series.
While Dune could have had lasting effects on MacLachlan and Lynch's careers, the director and lead star have both acknowledged the failure and been able to move on to bigger and better things in their careers, including a few more collaborations. Their perseverance is a real testament to dealing with failure in an industry as tough as Hollywood. Hopefully, MacLachlan's wish comes true and he will be able to cameo in Villeneuve's Dune Part Two, releasing next November.