Ray Wise Twin Peaks tour interview: Where to buy tickets, David Lynch

New York Post

5 days ago

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'Twin Peaks' may be shrouded in mystery but the man who played Leland Palmer is an open book.
Starting Aug. 4, Ray Wise is embarking on a nationwide 'Twin Peaks: A Conversation with the Stars Tour' with cast-mates Harry Goaz (Deputy Andy Brennan) and Kimmy Robertson (Lucy Moran) as well as executive producer Sabrina S. Sutherland (she also played floor attendant Jackie in season three) to tell stories about their time in front of and behind the camera over the course of the series' three seasons and 'Fire Walk With Me' movie.
'After 30 years, we've gotten pretty good at talking about 'Twin Peaks,' and, in my case, talking about Leland Palmer,' the the veteran character actor told The Post in an exclusive interview.
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'We're going to do that again at these shows. There will be a Q&A where we'll tell our stories about what went on in front of and behind the camera along with all the backstage stuff and stories about our dear beloved leader, David, who's not with us anymore.
Afterwards, there will be an autograph session and cocktail party, which we'll all be looking forward to by that time.'
At past live shows — for 'Twin Peaks,' 'RoboCop' and 'Jeepers Creepers 2' among the other 125 (!) films and TV shows that line Wise's impressive IMDb — the wily 77-year-old thespian has been known to sing and dance while doing panel where fans have come up to him dressed as his iconic, grieving white-haired character, Leland Palmer.
Yet, this time around, he might be a bit more somber as he and his former collaborators pay their respects to the late David Lynch.
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'There will be a 15 minute tribute to David after the Q&A,' he noted. 'David wanted us to do this tour and it's very important to me.'
If you'd like to go back and re-live the series that made America ask 'who killed Laura Palmer?,' last-minute tickets are available for all 'Twin Peaks: A Conversation with the Stars Tour' shows.
That includes their three stops in New York and New Jersey where they swing into Collingswood, NJ's Scottish Rite Auditorium on Thursday, Aug. 7, Red Bank, NJ's Count Basie Center on Saturday, Aug. 9 and New York City's Sony Hall on Sunday, Aug. 10.
For more information about the U.S. tour, David Lynch, Wise's unreal performance as Leland Palmer and the one role he almost got but just missed out on, keep reading.
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We have a complete tour schedule, an eye-opening interview, cast bios and more below.
'Twin Peaks: Conversation With The Stars' tour schedule 2025
A complete calendar including all 'Twin Peaks' tour dates, venues and links to the by tickets available can be found here:
*Sheryl Lee will take part in the Oct. 18 and 20 dates of the tour, which are currently not available for sale on Vivid Seats.
Ray Wise exclusive interview
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Ahead of the tour, we chatted with Wise about all things 'Twin Peaks' as well as his impressive acting career where he's appeared in films and TV shows as varied as '24,' 'Swamp Thing,' 'X-Men: First Class,' 'The A-Team' and 'Mad Men.'
What's your favorite behind the scenes 'Twin Peaks' story?
Oh, my goodness. There are so many, which will all come out on this tour. One of the sweetest was when Sheryl Lee, who played Laura and Maddie, gave me a wallet-sized pictures of her in the fourth grade to keep as a good luck charm during production. I put it in my wallet and kept it in my back pocket every time I did a scene.
When the show was over, I gave it back to her.
What made David Lynch such a special director?
It's a mystical quality. That might sound a bit overblown, but it's the truth. David was a regular fellow but believed in transcendental meditation and would take time during lunch to go out to his trailer and meditate. We picked up on it and jived with him.
On-set, he had an uncanny way of dealing with actors. It was always laid-back. There was a sense of joy and a smile on his face. I rarely ever saw him get upset about anything and every morning when we came in to work on 'Twin Peaks' was was a happy time for us. After we made that pilot, we knew we were doing something right.
In later episodes, we had many different directors but it didn't really matter who they were, because we knew what we were doing thanks to how David got us started off.
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Your performance in 'Twin Peaks' is unlike anything I've ever seen. How did you make your unique acting choices?
The more directors give me to do, the more I bring to the performance. Whenever David would suggest something like different movements on-set, I was at 100%. Then, I would add my own little interpretations and we'd arrive at something that eventually was the performance. I love to be chock-full of verbal and physical ideas and that's the way David operates. He had a hell of an imagination.
When you show David something and he likes it, he embellishes it. Then, you embellish what he gave you and that's the performance.
How many takes were you doing on-set?
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We never did more than two or three takes of anything and rarely got to three. Honestly, the first time was usually a beautiful thing. That was David's favorite expression: 'Ray, that's a beautiful thing.'
Usually that first take, he'd say 'that was a goodie' and more often than not, he went with those.
Do you have a favorite scene from the series?
My favorite moment came in a Tim Hunter-directed episode. It was Leland's death scene. There was water beating down on my face. Even when I watch it today, it elicits all the same feelings.
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Tell me all about the audition process.
I came in to meet David and thought I was going for the role of Sheriff Truman. We sat down and started talking about our first cars — mine was a 1960 Alpha Romeo — and David's was a Volkswagen Bug. Then, we talked about an actor friend that we had in common, Kenneth MacMillan, who played the evil Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in the first 'Dune' movie for David and that was the extent of it. We bantered for 20 minutes and I found out a couple of days later that he wanted me to play Leland Palmer. I thought 'wait a minute, I thought I was up for Sheriff Truman, so I had to go back to the script and look at Leland again.
I saw in his first scene, he was in tears after finding out his daughter died. Then, he cries big time when he goes to the morgue and I said, 'this guy likes to cry.' But therein lies the challenge to show the different levels and physical manifestations of grief. All of them are true to life.
Out of everything you've done, why do you think 'Twin Peaks' has had such staying power over the years?
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It's about small-town people that have an underbelly to their lives no one knows about. Sometimes, it bubbles over and comes out every now and again.
Everybody has secrets they keep to themselves and don't let anyone in, even their loved ones. 'Twin Peaks' is a town full of those kinds of people. I think that everybody can relate to that.
And David Lynch and Mark Frost insisted on having autonomy with the show and and ABC went along with it. So, we did 'Twin Peaks' not modeling ourselves on anything that had ever been on a network show before and ended up breaking ground for a lot of shows.
Do you talk about your other iconic roles on tour?
Yes, if people ask. I did 'Tim and Eric' and 'Good Night and Good Luck' with George Clooney which was nominated for Best Picture. I was proud of that one. On television, I played the devil on a show called 'Reaper' on the CW network for a couple of seasons. I've done a little bit of everything over my 57-year career. Onstage, I did two shows in New York City at La Mama ETC for Ellen Stewart and and won the Obie Award back in 1983 for 'The Truth of Crime' by Sam Shepard.
What are your favorite roles outside of Leland Palmer?
Playing the devil on 'Reaper.' I could have played that part forever. My take on it was that he was a combination between a good talk show host and a good used car salesman. He could charm the pants right off of you.
What's one role you almost got but it didn't pan out?
Back in the early '80s, I did a movie called 'Swamp Thing' for Wes Craven, who later became quite famous for 'A Nightmare on Elm Street.' Early on, I was one of Wes' favorites so I got called to audition for Freddy Krueger. It came down to me and Robert Englund. When I saw what he had to go through to play that role, those fingernails, I didn't mind not getting cast.
But there are many. It happens probably five or six times a year.
How to watch 'Twin Peaks'
All 18 season one episodes of the iconic early '90s program are available for free on Pluto TV.
After that, Seasons two and three can be streamed on Paramount+.
For those hoping to catch the 1992 film 'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,' you're in luck. The cinematic cult classic is waiting for you at HBO Max.
About the 'Twin Peaks' cast members on tour
In addition to Wise, here are short bios of the three cast members appearing on the tour with him, courtesy of the tour's website.
KIMMY ROBERTSON is best known for her role as Lucy Moran in Twin Peaks. She has also been a voice in many animated movies including Beauty and the Beast and television series including The Simpsons, Gravedale High and Batman: The Animated Series.
HARRY GOAZ played Deputy Andy Brennan in all series of Twin Peaks, and Fire Walk With Me. Harry has also appeared in Steven Soderbergh's The Underneath, and Eerie, Indiana.
SABRINA S. SUTHERLAND appeared as floor attendant Jackie in Parts 3 and 4 of Twin Peaks: The Return, and served as Production Coordinator on Season 2 of Twin Peaks, and Executive Producer for both Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces, and Twin Peaks: The Return. Sabrina was Associate Producer on David Lynch's Inland Empire, Production Supervisor on Lost Highway and Producer of David Lynch: The Art Life.
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This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change