Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan will play U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the Norwegian-produced World War 2 series Atlantic Crossing. MacLachlan was an unknown young actor when he was discovered by director David Lynch and cast as Paul Atreides in Lynch’s notoriously disastrous 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Lynch would turn to MacLachlan again for his comeback movie Blue Velvet, casting the actor as the straight-laced Jeffrey Beaumont in that memorably surreal portrait of obsession.
Lynch and MacLachlan would later enjoy their most memorable and pop culture impacting collaboration when Lynch cast his favorite actor as special agent Dale Cooper on the seminal series Twin Peaks. MacLachlan would return to play Cooper, albeit only briefly, in Lynch’s cinematic prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. And of course, MacLachlan suited up and grabbed a cup of joe for Lynch again in 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return, playing multiple characters, including Dale Cooper’s evil doppelgänger and the simple-minded Dougie Jones.
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For his next project, MacLachlan moves far away from the surreal world of Twin Peaks. Variety reports that the actor has signed on to portray president Franklin D. Roosevelt in Atlantic Crossing, an 8-part World War 2 drama produced by Norwegian company Cinenord. Sofia Helin will co-star as Norwegian Crown Princess Martha, who fled from the Nazis and lived for a time at the White House with the Roosevelts. The series will revolve around the relationship between FDR and Martha, as the exiled princess became influential in world politics.
The 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt became famed as the man who saved America from the Great Depression, and later led the country through the perils of World War 2. And he did all of it despite being disabled after a bout with polio. FDR has been portrayed many times before on film, most famously by Ralph Bellamy in 1960’s Sunrise at Campobello. Bill Murray gave a more unconventional portrait of the long-serving president in 2012’s Hyde Park On the Hudson. Roosevelt was most recently portrayed by David Strathairn in a voice-only role in 2017’s Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour.
Via Atlantic Crossing, MacLachlan now adds his name to the long list of actors who’ve tackled the demanding role of Franklin Roosevelt. In addition to that, MacLachlan has also lined up a role opposite Tom Hardy in Josh Trank’s Al Capone film Fonzo. He’s also set to appear with Zazie Beetz, Zachary Quinto and Andre Holland in Steven Soderbergh’s High Flying Bird. Atlantic Crossing does not yet have a premiere date.
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Source: Variety