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Tattoos In The Movies

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looking for information about a tattoo you saw in a movie?

This lens is about tattoos from movies, including Wanted, the Blade Trilogy, Memento, The Number 23, From Dusk 'Til Dawn, Reign of Fire, Eastern Promises, and many more.

You will find pictures, DVDs and stories about those great tattoos you see at the movies!

Shown here, actor Tom Hardy all muscled up and sporting a mix of his own tattoos and faux ink for the upcoming MMA-themed movie "Warrior."

the tattoo movie listing

Tribal-Style in the Movies
Russian prison tattoos from EASTERN PROMISES
Tattoo Plotlines
Jim Carrey and The Number 23 Tattoo
THE NUMBER 23 dvd
Tattoo Movie Clips and Trailers
The Shark Tattoo of Ocean's 11, 12 and 13
OCEAN'S TRILOGY
Movies with Tattoos In Them
Angelina Jolie as "Fox" in WANTED
WANTED on DVD
Great Character Ink
Nero from STAR TREK
Tattoo Movies
Vin Diesel as Xander Cage from xXx
Body Art Bits and Bobs

Tribal-Style in the Movies

Based on traditional styles of tattooing from the South Pacific, modern tribal style is one of the most common seen in movies. It's crisp, clear and reads well on camera. All of the movies listed here feature characters that wear some sort of modern tribal-style tattooing.

Russian prison tattoos from EASTERN PROMISES

Tattoo Plotlines

when the ink is part of the story

Here are movies where a tattoo becomes part of the plotline and isn't just worn by a character for visual effect.

City of Lost Children - As Miette and One search for One's little brother, they must find a tattooed map of a watery mine field to reach the evil scientist's lair.
Eastern Promises - A mid-wife gets caught up with Russian gangsters in London, all of whom have elaborate prison tattoos that tell their life stories.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - the Death Eaters all wear a tattoo of a skull and a snake. It's a paled tattoo until Voldemort "activates it," calling his followers to come to him. Then it's very dark and the snake writhes subtly.
Memento - a man who has lost the ability to make any new memories uses tattoos on himself to remember clues as he tracks his wife's killer.
Tattoo - 1981 - a tattoo artist develops an obsession about his favorite fashion model to the point of kidnapping her and forcibly tattooing her. Awesome early use of Temptu body paint and designs by Ed Hardy.
Tattoo - 2002 - An older jaded cop and his rookie partner track a killer collecting tattooed skins. Tense drama and hot skin art. The film is German and is most often found with a German language track and subtitles.
Waterworld - the kanji and coordinates tattooed on the back of a young girl gives the location of the last dry land on Earth.
Yellowbeard - In this Pythonesque rendition of a pirate movie, the map to Yellowbeard's treasure is tattooed on the head of his long-lost son.

Jim Carrey and The Number 23 Tattoo

THE NUMBER 23 dvd

Usually known for his comedic performances, Jim Carrey takes on a dramatic thriller this time, playing a mild-mannered dog catcher who starts to read a book that seems to be predicting his own life.

In the story within the story, Carrey gets to play a jazz musician with a rough life. He also has his shoulders and one arm fully tattooed, with a tribal-style tattoo design. The patterns look like a stylized thorn or barbwire design which pierces a large red heart on his forearm.

The Number 23 (Unrated Infinifilm Edition)

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Tattoo Movie Clips and Trailers

catch a flash of ink in these short videos

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Official Trailer [HD]: by trailers | video info

4,906 ratings | 4,859,901 views

curated content from YouTube

The Shark Tattoo of Ocean's 11, 12 and 13

Brad Pitt's character in the OCEAN'S movies, Rusty Ryan, sports a bold tribal tattoo that runs down his left forearm and onto his hand. There were brief glimpses in OCEAN'S ELEVEN, and a bit more in OCEAN'S TWELVE. Presumably, it will make a third appearance in the upcoming OCEAN'S THIRTEEN.

The design was done by special effects makeup designer Christian Tinsley and is available for purchase as a temporary tattoo.

OCEAN'S TRILOGY

See Rusty Ryan's tattoo in all three Ocean's movies.

Ocean's Trilogy (Ocean's Eleven / Ocean's Twelve / Ocean's Thirteen)

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Movies with Tattoos In Them

sometimes they are part of the plot, sometimes they are just major visuals

Neo-Nazi Tattoos in "American History X": With his muscular frame, shaved head and goatee, actor Edward Norton's character Derek Vinyard from the movie AMERICAN HISTORY X projects a steady aura of menace. But what really adds to that image is the variety of tattoos on his upper body.
Tattoos from the BLADE movies: Details of the tattooing from all three Blade movies, plus the vampire ownership tattoos worn by the humans.
The Tattoos of THE FOUNTAIN: I was surprised to see tattoos in the new movie release THE FOUNTAIN. They add a lovely touch to this interesting science-fantasy/romance.
George Clooney's tattoo in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN: One of the most asked about tribal tattoos in the movies is the fragment you see coming out of George Clooney's shirt neckline in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. For the entire movie, at least until the last five minutes or so, that's all you get. This brief bit peeking out has a nagging effect. Does that tattoo go down his arm? How far does that thing do down his arm? What the heck does the rest of it look like?
The Tattoos of LEGION: Coming to theaters in early 2010 is the horror thriller LEGION. Actor Paul Bettany plays the archangel Michael, come down to Earth to protect an unborn child, and he's got lots of weapons and tattoos to help him.
Tattoos of Memento: Due to a head injury, Leonard Shelby has a serious memory problem. He can't make new memories, and only has the ones from right up until the accident. This is making it difficult for him to track down the man who killed his wife, and hit him in the head. To help him with his search, he has evolved a system. He takes Polaroid pictures, putting names to faces, marking which car is his, which hotel room is his. And to keep certain notes from being lost or changed, he has an elaborate series of tattoos slowly growing all over his body.
Darth Maul's Tattoos in THE PHANTOM MENACE: As part of his Sith identity, Darth Maul has had his entire body surface tattooed.
The Tattoos of Reign of Fire: A very popular movie tattoo is the highly stylized dragon-themed blackwork appearing in REIGN OF FIRE, worn by Denton Van Zan who is played by actor Matthew McConaughey.
Tattoos of the Salton Sea: In THE SALTON SEA, Val Kilmer portrays Thom Van Allen, a jazz trumpeter who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. His life falling apart from grief and the desire for revenge, Van Allen become Danny Parker, a secret police informant. The crowd that Danny hangs with are all drug dealers and meth addicts, known as "tweakers." Staying up for days at a time, they embrace their place outside society, and their tattooing seems to reinforce this. In order to blend in, Danny has become rather heavily tattooed.
Snatch Tattoos: In director Guy Ritchie's SNATCH, Pitt plays the eccentric character Mickey O'Neil, a Gypsy with a talent for fighting. Sporting almost as intense a physique as in FIGHT CLUB, Brad Pitt is also covered with theatrical tattoos, with work on his arms, chest, abdomen and back. The style is rendered very realistically, being a mix of personal imagery and symbols rendered in a plain outline or fineline style.
Villains with Body Art: Woody Harrelson and Juliet Lewis in "Natural Born Killers." Mario Van Peebles as Kane in the third Highlander movie. Robert DeNiro in "Cape Fear."
The Tattoos of THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN: In HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, we get to meet Sirius Black. Director Alfonso Cuaron chose to add mystical tattoos to the appearance of Harry's mysterious godfather for the film adaptation.
The Tattoos of THE EXPENDABLES: What could go better with action, guns and a cast of movie all-stars but tattoos? Take a look at the tattoos of THE EXPENDABLES, the upcoming feature from actor-writer-director Sylvester Stallone.
The Tattoos of WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD: If you thought George Clooney had some cool tattoos on him in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, you might want to check out the skin art he sports in the comedy crime film WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD.
The Tattoos of CONSTANTINE: In the new action/supernatural thriller CONSTANTINE, Keanu Reeves plays a man caught between Heaven and Hell, battling demons in an attempt to save his own soul. Part of his magical arsenal are a pair of mystical tattoos.
The Tattoos of THE INDIAN RUNNER: In this 1991 drama written and directed by Sean Penn, actor Viggo Mortensen plays an ex-Vietnam vet with a criminal streak. See a great example of late 1960s military and prison tattoos in this film.

Angelina Jolie as "Fox" in WANTED

WANTED on DVD

Wanted (Single-Disc Widescreen Edition)

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Great Character Ink

Nero from STAR TREK

portrayed by Australian actor Eric Bana

The Romulans of this incarnation are a rogue group, and each member has an individual pattern tattooed on their face. The designs go across the temples and foreheads, over the crowns and have bits on the cheekbones and chins. There is even a tiny touch of lip tattooing. This is actor Eric Bana (Time Traveler's Wife) as he appears in the guise of Nero, leader of the Romulan mining faction that has a beef to settle with certain members of the Federation.