Kyle MacLachlan Still Thinks Twin Peaks: The Return Is a Movie

In keeping with Twin Peaks' unique ability to both confound and delight fans, there's been an intense debate waging on between entertainment aficionados as to whether the third season-slash-first sequel, Twin Peaks: The Return, qualifies as another installment in what was originally a TV series or if it's a standalone (albeit 18-hour-long) film that's just been broken into pieces.

Creator David Lynch has openly suggested that he believes it's a film property and that he approached it as such when producing the new run. But things really got heated with the back-and-forth when certain film outlets started including Twin Peaks in Top 10 lists of the year's best movies.

Some agreed the series easily qualifies as a film, despite being nine times the ordinary feature length.

Others weren't so convinced that this medium selection is appropriate, given its origin and runtime.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has, however, unwittingly weighed in on the debate by nominating Twin Peaks' central star Kyle MacLachlan for the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

MacLachland, however, seems to think his nomination may be based on a false premise, telling IndieWire that despite him being nominated in a TV category, he believes The Return is a film.

"I lean toward the film example only because it was written as one story. We were all encouraged not to refer to it as episodes, but as hours. There was never an act break or anything like that in any of the writing, so it was constructed to be an 18-hour film experience. In that way, I do think of it as more of a film," he explained.

"In watching it on a large screen, which we did at the premiere and also in Cannes, it was like watching a film," MacLachlan continued. "It wasn't like this was shot for a small screen and then blown up and the frame was inadequate. It was cinematic. So I think in that way, you can define it as a film, for sure."

MacLachlan isn't ungrateful, however -- category designation disagreements notwithstanding.-- and shared that he'll be celebrating this honor in character with, you guessed it, a steaming cup o' joe.