As they've gotten better and better at theatrical tattooing, it seems like there are more and more movies with a tattooed main character, and not just some little design either.

The 70s "Tattoo" with Maude Adams and Bruce Dern is a classic and the tattoo artwork really holds up because it was so modern at the time.

"xXx" has got to be the one of the best for making fake tattoos look good. My personal favorite is the half torso dragon that they painted on actor Marton Csokas for his role as bad guy Yorgi.

One movie tattoo that is a bit subtle but looks fantastic is the tribal backpiece right between his shoulder blades that Scott Bakula sports in "Lord of Illusions." They don't tell you anything about what it means or why the character has it, but it shows well during one shirtless scene.

There are tons of others: Wesley Snipes in the two Blade movies, Robert DeNiro in the Cape Fear remake, Matthew McConaughey in Reign of Fire.

What are your faves?

- Rae

I rented XXX recently because I'd heard a lot of good things about it. I wasn't overly impressed but there were some good sequences, and I did admire the tattoos greatly.

I'm a HUGE fan of Japanese cinema and many of those feature elaborate tattoos <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The movie that currently sticks in my mind as far as a tattoo goes is Gladiator, probably because I've been playing the soundtrack non-stop for weeks and keep rewatching the DVD. I didn't see it in theaters and was blown away when I finally rented it. Genearl Maximus has a SPQR on his shoulder and spends much of the rest of the movie trying to carve it out, after having his family killed by the new Emperor.

One movie that I hadn't seen before that had theatrical tattooing was "Snatch." A friend of mine brought her DVD over the other night. Brad Pitt plays a gypsy bare-knuckle fighter and his character has tattoos scattered over his arms, chest and back. a lot of the work is fine-line style, which looks very realistic, but doesn't read well at a distance.

Oh, and I've got to rent Sean Penn's directorial debut "The Indian Runner" as Viggo Mortensen's ex-Vietnam vet character is covered in all sorts of tattoos in that one. They even did one of those great spider-web-around-the-nipple ones on him.

- Rae

A subtle but good movie tattoo comes in "After Hours" starring Griffin Dunne as a guy who gets stuck in Greenwich Village after dark. Rosanna Arquette is a girl who takes him in briefly, and he sees a tube of burn cream that she is using. He worries that she has hideous burns or something but later finds out it is just a tiny new tattoo.

- Rae

funny fake tattoo movie moment....
Julia roberts in runaway bride. They are showing footage from one of her many attempted weddings, and it shows a flower tattoo in between her shoulder blades. Later in the movie they are talking to the unfortunate groom of that day, and make reference to the tatto. The groom goes into this heartfelt speach about what the tattoo symbolises... and the reporter (a bit of a trouble mkaer) asks to see her tattoo. Turns out it was a fake lol! That sequence cracked me up!

Julia Roberts does have a real tattoo though. It's on one of her shoulder blades and is a red heart with the Japanese kanji for strength tattooed in black inside it.

It's a leftover from her days with Keifer Sutherland who at the time said it stood for her strength of heart. Sutherland has that same symbol tattooed on one of his shoulders and occasionally you see it in one of movies.

- Rae

ooo sutherland is a stud lol! Hey, didn't Angel have a tattoo, on buffy the vampire slayer? I think I remember him having one when he took of his shirt shortly after meeting buffy lol.

Hmmm, I never watched "buffy" so I can't comment on Angel's tat.

Let's see, do I have tv tattoo trivia anyway...? Yep! Ok, here's some supernatural tat stuff:

Remember the X-Files episode "Never Again"? Mulder goes to Graceland for vacation and Skully get an adventure on her own. Skully falls for a guy who gets a tattoo and becomes possessed by it. The tattoo was voiced by Jodie Foster. Skully gets a tat in the episode and it was an oroborous, which was the emblem for "Millenium" the other Chris Carter tv show.

The snake tat that Skully got in the show was a fake, but Gillian Anderson really has a tiny turtle tattoo on one of her feet.

- Rae

silly me, ask and the internet shall provide!

Here's a page all about Angel's tattoo from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

http://zenkitty.home.att.net/Angelstattoo.htm

- Rae

Thanks Rae! My dad and I are Buffy nuts lol! Everytime a season comes out on dvd we rush out and buy it. Anyway when I think of more interesting entertainment tattoos I'll post away <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />