Kyle MacLachlan's first-ever film role was a spectacular flop. He got the last laugh.

From Jeffrey Beaumont in "Blue Velvet" to Agent Dale Cooper in "Twin Peaks," Kyle MacLachlan spent his early career playing boyish heroes who are drawn into worlds that are much darker and stranger than they appear.

The contours of that darkness weren't always appreciated at the time. Two of MacLachlan's collaborations with David Lynch, 1986's "Blue Velvet" and 1984's "Dune" adaptation — his first-ever role — polarized critics, though the former has emerged as a highly-regarded cult classic in the decades since.

MacLachlan has become a cult figure of his own in his four-decade career, one who's deftly balanced his arthouse collaborations (including reteaming with Lynch for 2017's "Twin Peaks: The Return") with more mainstream roles in shows like "Sex and the City" and "Desperate Housewives."

Now 65, MacLachlan is still playing off the duality of his "boy next door" charm — even if he's more of a dad next door now. His latest role as the seemingly squeaky clean, all-American dad Hank MacLean on Prime Video's new postapocalyptic series "Fallout" gives MacLachlan plenty to chew on, as it becomes clear by the end of the season that the father of protagonist Lucy (Ella Purnell) isn't exactly who he seems. If you ask MacLachlan, that duality is part of the fun.

"I like both sides, the yin and the yang of a character. It makes for a much more interesting journey as an actor to be able to dig into a darker side of things," MacLachlan tells Business Insider. "The struggle between the light and the dark, the good and the evil."

For a veteran muse of David Lynch, old habits die hard.

For the latest interview in Business Insider's Role Play series, MacLachlan reflects on Lynch's "Dune" in light of the new adaptation, passing on some famous roles, and whether he'd make a good mayor in real life.

On 'Dune,' then and now

Your "Dune" is beloved now, of course, but at the time it was released, the reception was pretty poor.

Yeah. We were not well received. Our film, it's very difficult to follow. The story is challenging. We tried to cover a lot of territory in a little over two hours. It was really impossible.

Then of course, because it's David Lynch, he wants to spend some time in his creative universe, and that's really what you got. Our "Dune" is the amalgam of David Lynch and his creativity, and Frank Herbert and his creativity. There was not enough time to really do justice to the story as Frank wrote in the book.

That said, it's a pretty marvelous journey through this kind of somewhat incomprehensible world of "Dune" with all the visuals that David brought to it. When I saw both of them, I thought ours exists and the new one exists, and they can both live in the same universe.

What did it feel like to have your first movie flop? Did it harm your chances of getting roles right after?

I didn't have anything to relate it to. But I was trained in the theater, and I said, you have these periods of time between jobs, so I'll just go out and find another job and figure it out. So it wasn't daunting.

It knocked me down a little bit, but I didn't really let it affect me in a negative way, I just went forward. And then David came back around and we did "Blue Velvet" together. That kind of had a similar difficult reception in the beginning, but people came to love that movie and it gradually gained acceptance.

But it was an interesting way to start a career, for sure! I can say that from this perspective.

Did Timothée Chalamet ever seek you out for advice on how to bring your shared '"Dune" character to life?

No, no, no. He is more than capable. I've actually only seen the first one. I haven't seen the second yet. But I thought he did a wonderful job with it.

David has for a long time been asked about doing a director's cut of his "Dune," and he recently seemed to warm up to the idea after years of dismissing it. Do you think he'd ever do it?

It's hard to say. I don't know. It's a good question. It would be great to see that, but David has got his own sort of agenda. So who knows if he'd find value in that?

Your collaborations with David are legendary. Are there any other directors that you haven't worked with yet, but are hoping to work with one day?

Oh, there's a ton. I wish my Italian were better, I could work with Scorsese. But I don't know if that's going to happen. That would be really fun.

On why he turned down "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" and "Platoon," and missing out on working with Robert Redford

You've talked about turning down roles in movies like "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" and "Platoon." What was your thinking behind saying no to those?

With "Platoon," it existed in a different place and time. When the role of Chris came to me, I had some thoughts about it, some things that I wasn't certain about — some of the culmination of the character, where he ends up.

I had a hard time with the choices that he made. I didn't necessarily think that was the direction that he should have gone in, but I saw at the same time that it was absolutely imperative for Oliver Stone's story that he went there. So I said, "Okay, don't necessarily need to do that."

Fortunately, "Blue Velvet" was kind of right there in the wings, and I went off to film that, which was great.

"Sex, Lies, and Videotape" was more of, well, I'd done Blue Velvet. It felt in some ways that we were kind of getting into similar territory with that particular character and his infatuation with the dark side. And I said, "I think maybe I need to try something else a little bit away from that."

Were there any other roles in your career that you memorably turned down and regretted after?

No, not really. There were roles that I, of course, wanted to do and didn't get, but that's pretty common throughout Hollywood.

What's one of those that really stuck with you?

I really wanted to work with Robert Redford. He did a film called "A River Runs Through It" years ago, and I remember I was in the running for that. It wasn't the situation where I turned it down, it was more just he went a different direction.

But I remember meeting him, and I loved the script, and I loved the character, and just the idea of working with Robert Redford to me would've been kind of amazing. My mom was a huge fan of his growing up. I am also a huge fan of his, loved so many of his films, and I thought as a director, he's just so sensitive and tuned in, and that would've been really a great experience. But these things happen.

On playing a politician and the one project he wishes more people paid attention to

Hank is kind of the mayor in "Fallout." You've also played the mayor of a very different kind in "Portlandia." Do you think you'd make a good politician in real life?

Oh boy. I'd have to have a really good staff around me. I would tend to promise things that I probably couldn't fulfill.

But your website would not have too many links, which is important.

That's true. But yeah, I probably wouldn't be the best politician.

You've jokingly pitched "The Bunny and Trey Show" as a "Sex and the City" spinoff before. But what do you think a Charlotte and Trey run-in would actually look like if you turned up on "…And Just Like That"?

I think it'd be very interesting. I think they've both grown up. I like to think that Trey has matured a little bit, and he's found his niche. It would be fun to see them having a more mature relationship now.

What's one project in your career that you wish people paid more attention to?

"Twin Peaks: The Return." People watched it and everything, but it would've been nice if there'd been even more of an audience for that. I was very proud of the work I did, and the characters are so different. But it's just one of those things where the first one caught such a moment in time.

The second one also was a beautiful realization of the story, but different. I think people were expecting "The Return" to be maybe a return to the original. It was a little more challenging, a little different, more pure Lynch. So it'd be fun if more people saw that.

Out of all your costars, who are you dying to work with again?

It would've been great to work with Dennis Hopper again, sadly, he is gone. But Dennis is somebody who was such a powerful presence, such a lovely human being, such a creative force. Dennis was pretty special.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.