Starsky . . . and Hutch!

In the 2004 feature film Starsky & Hutch both David Starsky (Ben Stiller) and Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson (Owen Wilson) were played by left handers.

Hutch (Wilson) on left, Starsky (Stiller) on right

Leftie Ben Stiller

Southpaw Owen Wilson

Back Then

Hutch (David Soul) and Starsky
(Paul Michael Glaser) from the TV series

In the 1975-79 TV series "Starsky and Hutch" that the movie was based on, David Soul (right handed) played Hutch right handed and Paul Michael Glaser (left handed?) played Starsky left handed.

Paul Michael Glaser on the job left handed as Starsky

David Soul is still right handed

Kayser Söze (spoiler alert)

Kayser Söze seems to be left handed.

Kayser Söze shoots left handed in Verbal Kint's story

In one of the scenes portraying the flashback being related to Agent Kujan by suspect Roger "Verbal" Kint, Kaiser shoots left handed.

Left-handed "Kayser" shoots Keaton on the ship

In another scene, someone whom Dean Keaton addresses as "Kayser", who then shoots Keaton, fires left handed.


Kint himself seems to be right handed, though this may be a result of his apparent disability. He is played as having cerebral palsy affecting one leg and one arm. He holds his Uzi right handed in one scene.

In case you haven't seen the movie, I'll just leave it at that. Except to comment that writer Christopher McQuarrie and director Bryan Singer seem to have thought of everything. 

Kevin Spacey, who played Verbal Kint, appears to be right handed.

James Cameron's Left-Handed Na'vi

Movie director James Cameron is left handed. And on the moon Pandora, the setting for the movie Avatar, the native Na'vi are (all?) left handed. So though many great humans are left handed, not all great left-handers are human.

lefty Na'vi (Neytiri?)

The leading Na'vi character Neytiri is played by Zoe Saldana, who is in fact left handed.

lefty Zoe Saldana

Most of the other main Na'vi characters are played by right-handed actors. To the extent hand preference was involved in any of their performances, for instance handling weapons, they had to play left handed.

• Right-hander Laz Alonso plays Tsu'tey.
• Right-hander Wes Studi plays Eytukan. 
• Right-hander CCH Pounder plays Moat.

Interestingly the avatars of the human characters, when those characters are inhabiting Na'vi-like bodies, are right handed just as their human "operators" are. All of the actors who play these characters are themselves right handed.

• Sam Worthington plays Jake Sully, who is right handed, as is his avatar. When his avatar handles firearms he uses them right handed. (I noticed Jake's avatar using a bow leftie in one shot, I think. And he was trained by Neytiri to draw it left handed. In many shots he can be seen to wear a wristguard on his right wrist, as a left-handed bowman would. Maybe the Na'vi just don't make left wristguards. This is the opposite of the problem that southpaws face with scissors in our world.)
  
  
  

  

  Jake Sully's avatar is right handed

• Sigourney Weaver is right handed. Her character Dr. Grace Augustine and her avatar are right handed.

Presumably the Na'vi extras and stunt players had to act left handed on the motion capture stage. They can be seen carrying their bows in their right hands (as a left-handed archer would) in the featurette "Performance Capture" at the Avatar site.

Question: In the video game can you play Na'vi characters? If so, do you play the them right handed, or left handed?

James Cameron, Na'vi prototype?

Hellboy's 'Right Hand of Doom' Makes Him Left Handed?

"Hellboy's right hand, referred to as the 'Right Hand of Doom', consists of a large forearm and hand that seems to be made from red stone. The Hand is dexterous enough to catch a fly, but its large size causes Hellboy to prefer his normal-sized left hand to operate weapons and devices." (Source: Wikipedia)

So is Hellboy right handed or left handed?

Hellboy

Ron Perlman as Hellboy, and Samaritan

Actor Ron Perlman, who plays Hellboy in the recent films, is left handed.

Ron Perlman signs an autograph

Mike Mignola, who created Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics, is right handed.

Technorati claim tag G3FMBE7SH3JJ

Sin(ister) City?

Sometimes lefties have to play righties. Many of the shots in Robert Rodriguez's Sin City were modelled directly on panels in Frank Miller's graphic novel. Therefore Detective John Hartigan, played by Bruce Willis, who is left handed, is played right handed.

Hartigan

For example this frame:

Hartigan takes aim at Yellow Bastard

Became this shot:

Hartigan takes aim at Yellow Bastard

Of course Frank Miller, like almost all of his characters, is right handed.

Frank Miller signs a copy of "300"

Jim and Kermit

The left hand of Jim Henson

Jim Henson was left-handed, though he wore Kermit the Frog on his right hand when performing. He used his left hand to manipulate the wires that operate Kermit's hands. Generally Kermit will be seen holding things that have to be manipulated in his left hand.

Kermit is now played by Steve Whitmire, who is right handed, but the pattern set by Jim Henson still makes Kermit mainly left handed.

Kermit holds phone in his left hand

Muppet manipulation

"The Muppeteer or Muppet master always holds the Muppet above his head or in front of his body, with one hand operating the head and mouth and the other manipulating the hands and arms, either with two separate control rods or by "wearing" the hands like gloves. One consequence of this design is that most Muppets are left-handed as the puppeteer uses his right hand to operate the head while operating the arm rod with his left hand." (source: Wikipedia article.)

Live-hand muppets

The Sesame Street character Ernie is an example of a "live-hand" muppet. The muppeteer operates the character's head with his or her right hand, and his or her left hand is in the hand of the character. So all such characters (which include Ernie, Cookie Monster, Fozzie Bear, Rowlf the Dog, Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew) are left-handed. (See "performing Ernie")

Beaker and Dr. Honeydew, both left handed

However, when a character like Rowlf or The Swedish Chef uses both hands, Jim Henson would operate the head and another mupeteer would do both hands. In the picture below Steve Whitmire helps Rowlf play the piano. So at these times Rowlf would be right handed.

Steve Whitmire does Rowlf's hands

Yippee-ki-yay, right-hander

Bruce Willis is left handed. So is John McCane. Hans Gruber is not.

Recent Presidents

Every President of the United States since Gerald Ford (Except Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush) was a leftie. Ronald Reagan is said to have been born leftie but wrote and threw rightie. However, it looks like he shot leftie.

Gerald Ford

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

George H.W. Bush

Bill Clinton

Barack Obama

Isaiah Mustafa

Yes, the manly Old Spice® man, embodied hunkily by Isaiah Mustafa, is left handed. So is Isaiah Mustafa.

Watch the video here.