It’s time to take another peek at Kyle MacLachlan
“I think peacock is a word I’d put out there,” says Kyle MacLachlan in describing the sartorial style and elegant physical strut of David Swain, the maverick attorney he plays in ABC’s new legal series, “In Justice.”
In the show (premiering tonight at 10, then moving to Fridays at 9 p.m.), Swain heads a nonprofit association of lawyers and private investigators working to overturn the sentences of the wrongly convicted.
Yet for most of this day on the Culver Studios set, he’s been locked up himself – jammed into a crowded holding cell for contempt of court.
Dressed as Swain in a smartly tailored business suit, his dark hair thick and shiny enough for any shampoo commercial, MacLachlan exudes energy and enthusiasm as he works out complex moves with director Steven DePaul and his fellow cast members.
MacLachlan, 46, first became known when he was picked by David Lynch to star in the 1984 sci-fi epic “Dune.”
Although that movie was a dud, Lynch employed MacLachlan more memorably as the young sleuth in the quirky “Blue Velvet” in 1986 and most famously of all as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper in the oddball 1990 TV serial “Twin Peaks.”
As time went by and MacLachlan’s efforts to find another quality TV series failed, he says he “started realizing that ‘Twin Peaks’ was very special. I didn’t realize that at the time. I thought, ‘Oh, this is easy.’ “
More recently – and successfully – he was a regular for several seasons on HBO’s “Sex and the City” as Charlotte’s ideal man, Dr. Trey MacDougal.
His equally eccentric film career includes the box office bomb “Showgirls,” the digital experiment “Timecode” and, most recently, “Touch of Pink,” in which he plays the spirit of Cary Grant.
MacLachlan now realizes that even a good idea backed by excellent casting and fine writing isn’t likely to work as a TV series if it doesn’t hit “a core issue” that audiences can grasp.
The “In Justice” exploration of the plight of innocents wrongly convicted strikes him as being in tune with the times.
“I don’t know if maybe it’s just me that’s aware because of researching this show, or that there really is more news coverage of these sort of cases,” he says. “But I feel it is very current, and that we may be riding a crest of a wave.”
He also thinks the series will stand apart from the glut of other crime and legal shows because it’s about getting mistreated people out of jail rather than about chasing down bad guys and locking them up.
MacLachlan says Swain’s floppy hair was somewhat inspired by defense attorney Barry Scheck, who was O.J. Simpson‘s DNA expert.
However, he adds: “I also find a lot of high-profile attorneys have this kind of flowing mane, and there’s a certain flamboyance to them.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Frank Langella is 66. Singer-guitarist Country Joe McDonald (Country Joe and the Fish) is 64. Comedian Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci) is 63. Actor Rick Hurst (“The Dukes of Hazzard”) is 60. Rapper Grandmaster Flash is 48. Actress Dedee Pfeiffer (“Cybill”) is 42. Actor Morris Chestnut is 37. Actor Verne Troyer (“Austin Powers”) is 37.