Michael Ironside

Michael Ironside’s stare can do much of the work before he speaks. The gravelly voice helps, but his officers and villains also seem certain that nobody should question them. His breakthrough as Darryl Revok in David Cronenberg’s Scanners (1981) established the threatening presence that casting directors have kept requesting. Ham Tyler in V: The Final Battle (1984) brought wider recognition. Too often since then, he has been asked for menace when a fuller character might have given him something else to do.

In Tony Scott’s Top Gun (1986), his Jester gives the film a useful severity beside Tom Cruise’s swagger. We rate it for the flying, which supplies the excitement that the predictable drama cannot. Ironside suits that tougher side of the film, lending credibility to authority without needing to be agreeable. His presence cannot make the romance more convincing, but a supporting actor ought not to be held responsible for every problem in the script.

Paul Verhoeven makes more of that severity, first with Richter in Total Recall (1990), then with Lieutenant Jean Rasczak in Starship Troopers (1997). The latter is the more revealing use of Ironside: the mentor’s authority gives him something to do beyond intimidation. We were unsettled by how reassuring Rasczak could seem, because Ironside lends such conviction to a film full of shameless military publicity. His physical presence helps make the military world credible, which gives the satire something to work with. Even here, the teenage romance drags, and not every performance is as persuasive.

Repeated casting as the heavy has given him fewer opportunities for broader character work. Later supporting parts include Miller in The Machinist (2004), while his voice has also found extensive employment in animation and games. We would welcome more parts that allow him to question the authority he plays so convincingly. Start with Starship Troopers for a director who knows what to do with that certainty.