Kyle MacLachlan Electrifys as Edison in New Tesla Movie Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply. Close
Kyle MacLachlan s Electrifying Portrayal of Thomas Edison
The actor talks about playing the American inventor in this season s Tesla
Kyle MacLachlan stars as Thomas Edison in "Tesla." Courtesy of IFC Films In , the trippiest fact-based film of 2020, Kyle MacLachlan plays Thomas Edison, rival and boss of inventor Nikola Tesla (), the ahead-of-his-time genius and namesake of the electric car. (.) The Twin Peaks star—who made coffee a meme long before the Internet emerged—talks with AARP about the movie, squishing ice-cream cones in his costar's face, and what it's like to look for cracks in an edifice of a man. What was Edison — inventor of the light bulb the phonograph and the movie industry — like
Kyle MacLachlan: He was larger than life, and I think there was a sense of the theatrical about him, along with his strong work ethic and diligence, his perseverance. He was aware of his position in society. RELATED: If you love biopics, you'll love Tesla as well as . Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. In the film s broadest strokes we get a picture of Tesla as the brooding immigrant outsider with outsize although not always profitable genius contrasted with Edison as business tycoon and media-dazzling showman But your characterization of the famed inventor doesn t rest on those generalities How d you get there
Michael [who spent 37 years researching for the film] supplied me with original sources and out-of-print books that shed more light on Edison than what we think we know about him. His diaries were incredibly helpful in particular. They opened up a softer, more romantic and fanciful side of the man. You could believe his head was in the clouds. Edison advocated DC direct current and Tesla AC alternating current two ways of transmitting electricity You ve said this corresponds to their clashing personalities Edison direct thrusting an unstoppable bull Tesla more elegant and cerebral dancing back and forth not moving in a straight line Was it fun to play this opposition with your old acting partner Hawke You played his step-father Claudius to Hawke s Hamlet in Almereyda s Hamlet 20 years ago br
It was kind of shocking to realize the calendar rushed by that quickly. I was reminded of how much I loved working with Ethan because he's so available as an actor, so incredibly inventive. He's a creative dynamo. Also up for a laugh if something goes wrong. It's always a good-natured back and forth. Entertainment $3 off popcorn and soft drink combos See more Entertainment offers > Roy Rochlin/Getty Images Kyle s Fast Facts
Age: 61 Birthplace: Yakima, Wash. First acting job: Oregon Shakespeare Festival First Hollywood break: David Lynch’s Dune (1984). When he got the phone message offering him the audition, he thought it was a prank call and almost ignored it. Big roles: Agent Cooper (Twin Peaks), Charlotte’s first husband (Sex and the City), Jeffrey (Blue Velvet), Ray Manzarek (The Doors). Awards: Golden Globe (Twin Peaks), Screen Actors Guild ensemble award nomination (Desperate Housewives) Movie that almost happened: Michael Almereyda’s The Merchant of Venice set in Venice, starring Ethan Hawke, with MacLachlan as an Elvis impersonator. Side business: His Eastern Washington winery Pursued by Bear (named after Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction from The Winter’s Tale, “Exit, pursued by a bear”). What scene was the most fun for you
The scene that never happened, at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair [which was electrified by Tesla's AC, not Edison's DC], when Edison acknowledges Tesla's contribution, and that he was on the right track all along, and sort of admits his mistake. He makes him human. Didn't happen in real life, of course, but I liked playing him [in that moment] a lot. The movie is mostly a historical period piece but sometimes the actors talk straight to the camera or google how many patents each man held or sing karaoke or break the fourth wall to tell the audience what they just saw never happened What was your favorite anachronistic scene br
When I pull out an iPhone and I'm smoking a cigar. That was really quite brilliant. It took people by surprise and made them think. Will it be another 20 years before you and Hawke costar in a third movie
I hope we can do it again before another 20 years. More on entertainment AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS