It looks like we may have seen the last of Orson Hodge on "Desperate Housewives," but Kyle MacLachlan, the actor who portrays him, is very much around. He's already working on a new show and it looks like his CBS pilot, "The Doctor," will be picked up for the fall season. When he's not in Hollywood, though, he's doing something completely different - making wine.
Everyone is multitasking these days, but actor Kyle MacLachlan has taken that to a whole new level. Between roles on mega-hit television shows like "Twin Peaks," "Sex and the City" and "Desperate Housewives," MacLachlan has been nurturing his passion for wine, specifically wine made in his home state of Washington. He has partnered with Eric Dunham of Dunham Cellars to produce vineyards in Walla Walla, a growing wine region which is a short distance from the Yakima, Washington, town he grew up in.
Pursued by Bear, a blend of cabernet, merlot and syrah, was released in the fall of 2008, just before MacLachlan's 50th birthday. It represents the culmination of a longtime passion the actor has with wine. Pursued by Bear has received a lot of accolades from the wine community, but the actor is definitely not giving up his day job. On a recent visit to Yakima and Walla Walla, I heard all about Kyle MacLachlan, who has brought attention to the area as an actor and a winemaker. The two of us got to talk about his plans for both.
Y!CN : Will we see more wine coming under in the Dunham MacLachlan brand?
MacLachlan: Pursued By Bear, the cab blend, is between three and four hundred cases of wine per year - we've kind of upped the quantity a little. The new syrah, Baby Bear, is going to be between a hundred and two hundred, ultimately.
Y!CN: Do you have any ideas about opening your own winery?
MacLachlan: I'm not up there frequently enough to be able to do that. I think the situation as it stands right now is pretty ideal. Eric (Dunham) has all the infrastructure in place and he's obviously a wonderful winemaker. We have a great rapport together.
Y!CN: Since you are spending most of your time in LA, are there any plans for you to show up again on "Desperate Housewives?"
MacLachlan: It's doubtful. I think that my time there is pretty much finished. I did two episodes for the seventh season and next year I will probably not. I'm hoping that the pilot ("The Doctor") I just shot will get picked up. It's very emotional, very powerful, but it flows very nicely so I'm excited about it. It would be a lot of fun to go to work with such a talented cast ... Christine Lahti, Scott Foley and Eva Amurri, who is Susan Sarandon's daughter.
Y!CN : In most of your roles, going back to "Twin Peaks" and "Sex and the City," and even in "Desperate Housewives," you always play these crazy characters, but in "The Doctor" you play a fairly normal pediatrician.
MacLachlan: Yup, that's me. I know. They always seem to be slightly eccentric and it's so nice to bop a bit (with "The Doctors"). At the same time I've got the "Portlandia" (a short run television series on the Independent Film Channel) thing going, which kind of covers the eccentric equation so that's fun too. We'll probably go back and shoot four episodes in June for that.
Y!CN: Is the fun what you liked most about "Desperate Housewives?"
MacLachlan: I think it was working with Marcia Cross. There weren't many scenes that we had together that demanded a lot, but when they did, it was really a pleasure to work with her and make those characters really sing. And with the writing so good, we really could - she's so talented. I think it always boils down to that for actors. At the end of the day, it's just going to work with people that you really like and who you think are talented and you just have a great time with. I think that's why we do what we do.
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