Hot Nerd Mancrush #8: Miguel Ferrer
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
LLLLLLLLLLLllllllllllladies!
I asked ThatCostumeGirl who she’d like to see written up as a hot nerd mancrush, and after .03 seconds of thinking she came up with Miguel Ferrer. Sounds perfect to me. I don’t think we see enough of this son of Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney myself. Over the years, he’s amassed quite the nerdbait catalog of films, but there is a film he was in that isn’t for the nerds where he gave a truly terrifying performance. More on that later. Hot Nerd Mancrush Miguel Ferrer starts after the jump.
If you’re a nerd, and let’s face it, what else can you be if you’re here reading ManWithPez, then not only have you seen Robocop, you may have even worshipped it. Ferrer’s coldhearted performance as Bob Morton, head of the Robocop project for Omni Comsumer Products definitely left an impression, and in my recollection, it was the first time in a movie where I was sad to see a reprehensible character punch out. At least he went out on top…with a room full of cocaine and hookers. He also gave the best prediction for Robocop while he was still in construction: “You are gonna be a bad motherfucker!”
Alright, nerds! Here ya go! He was in a Star Trek movie! That should be enough, right there.
Miguel Ferrer, for awhile, was cast as any number of snively characters that at some point, you wanted to see dead. None moreso than Snyder in DeepStar Six. This Leviathan knockoff should have been buried save one point…it had Miguel Ferrer in it. Honestly, any time I try to think about it, I get it confused with Leviathan. The point here is that when Miguel wants the shotgun, just give him the damn thing. Teamkiller!
In the brilliant TV series Twin Peaks as socially inept and hopelessly rude, though oddly good at his job FBI forensic pathologist Albert Rosenfield, Ferrer cemented his truly bastard side. He’s the kind of character that would get into a fistfight in an exam room. Also, in season 2 of Twin Peaks, Deputy Andy takes a plank to the head and staggers around stunned. Only one person laughs at him while this occurs. Care to guess who?
Revenge, starring Kevin Costner is an awesome, though oddly hard to find film. In it, he nails Anthony Quinn’s wife (Madeline Stowe), and when Quinn finds out, he wreaks an horrible comeupance. When Kevin Costner tries to get back at Quinn, he finds an ally in Ferrer’s character Amador. When they raid a whorehouse one night, everyone’s face covered, Ferrer goes to the house madam, takes off his skimask, and delivers this truly chilling line: “If she’s not where you say, I’ll kill you.” She knows he means business because the mask is off. It’s the kind of thing you’ve heard in movie after movie, but this is the only time that I was actually worried that he was going to come back and kill the actress! That’s how good the performance is.
Big...BIG pimpin'! Miguel, buddy! You can have Hennessy! Just give me Ming Na! (Sheesh! Greedy much?)
He’s also done some grade A vocal acting as well. As my singularly favorite Disney villain Shan Yu in Mulan, he was terrifying! He would stop at nothing to get his goal, as is shown in the film, even child killing. Go Disney! And, over on Superman, he was the voice of Aquaman. The first treatment of the character that wasn’t submoronic. And, my personal favorite, he played the Martian Manhunter in The New Frontier. Can’t recommend that one enough, and Jonn Jonnz is one of the better reasons to watch it.
You can find Miguel Ferrer in any number of places, but the best thing about him is, that you know when you see him, you’re about to watch something great! He’s just that good. He’s a pleasure to watch when he’s good, and even better when he’s bad! (And, before you people start in with the comments about the characters he’s played that I “forgot”, I’m well aware of his performances in The Stand and The Night Flier, Crossing Jordan and Star Trek III, and I think they’re all great, so THERE!)
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