Character Tics / Live-Action Films

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• Abominable: When she's frightened of the monster stalking her group, Michelle touches her engagement ring a few times and twists it back and forth around her finger.
• Austin Powers: Dr. Evil raising his pinky finger to his mouth.
• Shane from Backstreet Dreams repetitively bangs on things or waves his hand in front of his eyes.
• Back to the Future:
  • Marty McFly sleeps on either his side or his stomach with an arm behind his back.
  • His father George has the habit of shaking his hand in the air.
  • Doc Brown often makes grandiose gestures with his arms. Word of God says that Christopher Lloyd had based his portrayal of Doc in part on famed conductor Leopold Stokowski, i.e. Doc is conducting the world.
• In The Big Sleep, Philip Marlowe rubs his earlobe when his concentrating. Carmen also bites her thumb, which irritates Marlowe.
• Po from A Boy Called Po flaps his arms when he's excited or upset.
• The Dark Knight Trilogy:
  • The Joker from The Dark Knight licks his lips while he talks a lot. Word of God states that this was a result of Heath Ledger being annoyed by the feeling of the scar prosthetics and unconsciously licking at them because of it and after seeing him do it a few times with the full make-up and finding it seriously creepy, they decided to just make it part of the character.
  • In The Dark Knight Rises, Bane is constantly grasping the lapels of whatever outfit he's currently wearing. This is seen when Selina looks back at him before deciding to jump into the Bat, and also when he and his mercenaries are holding the Wayne Enterprises board hostage, among others. As with the Joker, this is also a case of Throw It In!; Tom Hardy does this to let in some air around his collar, as the mask causes his face to heat up.
• Dawning of the Dead: Twice in the movie, Katya can be seen drawing in a square. When asked about it, she states that it helps regulate her breathing.
• DC Extended Universe: Diana cocks her head and smiles a Grin of Audacity when facing off against a powerful opponent, showcasing her Blood Knight tendencies.
• Calvin Candie of Django Unchained tends to bang on whatever hard surface is in front of him (or clap if there isn't one) for emphasis when speaking.
• In A Dog's Purpose, one of Bailey's most used tricks is spinning around and catching his tail in his mouth. When he does it later as Buddy to show Ethan who he is, Hannah remarks, "Didn't Bailey use to do that?" Along with that, jumping off Ethan's back to catch a deflated football, and barking to the nickname "Boss Dog", it all helps Ethan realize that Bailey's come back.
• In Ernst Thaelmann: Sohn Seiner Klasse 1954 , Fiete Jansen (Thaelmann's main deputy) habitually wipes his nose with his hand. Interestingly, he has abandoned this tic by part II Ernst Thaelmann: Fueherer Seiner Klasse (which picks up seven years later with Fiete's release from prison) which might suggest an interfilm discretion shot.
• Fermat's Room: Hilbert corrects the other characters' grammar when they write on the chalkboard, adding accent marks (particularly over the letter "o").
• Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy: Anastassia Steel famously has a habit of constantly biting her lower lip.
• Godzilla: In many of the older movies, Godzilla often slams his fist into his palm as he walks. In King Kong vs. Godzilla, he also tends to flap his arms around like a seal.
• The Harry Potter films:
  • The Voldemort neck roll that Harry takes on when their minds are melded.
  • Hermione's eyebrows dancing up and down with every syllable, sometimes getting out of sync with each other. Emma Watson even does this when she's not acting, making it more of an actor tic, though she has managed to tone it down somewhat in the later films.
  • Barty Crouch Junior's lip-licking made his father realize that his son was impersonating Mad-Eye Moody. This trait is shared by another of the actor's characters, but in Harry Potter, it's exaggerated to the point where he looks like Miley Cyrus.
• Infernal Affairs has a couple of trademark tics that are actually plot-relevant: Yan's habit of tapping his fingers on things (which he uses deliberately to camouflage sending text messages) and Ming's of tapping objects he's carrying against his leg (which causes Yan to recognise him from an incident when he didn't see Ming's face).
• Gregory from The Innocent flaps his arm, rubs his cheek with his fist when he's anxious, and spins around to relieve stress.
• In Your Afterglow:
  • When Claire's hands aren't occupied by anything, she wrings them and rubs them together.
  • Leigh rubs her wrists, which her previous incarnation slashed in an Interrupted Suicide.
• James Bond:
  • Bond's infamous hypnobrow of doom.
  • In Casino Royale, Le Chiffre tends to place his fingers on his temple when he lies or bluffs, to still his nervous twitch (a minor plot point). Also, when particularly stressed, his medical condition — leaking blood from his left tear duct — kicks in.
  • Elliot Carver, of Tomorrow Never Dies, tends to outstretch his arms in a "You See" motion when making his grand speeches.
  • Dr. No walks with his hands behind his back. Justified, as he doesn't want to use his artificial hands unless he has to.
• Jimmie from Jimmie holds his arms bent like a T-Rex and shakes them while he walks. He also rubs his hand against his face and flicks his fingers.
• David from Keep the Change snorts and groans loudly when he's upset. He tells people it's allergies.
• David Staebler from The King of Marvin Gardens twitches his upper lip.
• In Labyrinth Jareth frequently contact juggles a crystal ball.
• The Last Command: Sergius has a non-stop head twitch. He explains that he "suffered a great shock once." It turns out that the head twitch dates from when he saw a train plunge off a bridge and into a river, with his lover aboard.
• Laurel and Hardy:
  • Oliver Hardy twiddles his tie whenever he is frustrated.
  • Stan Laurel fiddles with his hair from the top and whimpers when upset.
• Seymour Krelborn in Little Shop of Horrors would put his hands over where his ears are when overwhelmed.
• Nereus from A Man Called Nereus presses his hands together and flicks his fingers.
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015): Illya has a hand twitch when his Berserk Button is pressed. Not to mention his sharp Death Glare.
• Cho-won from Marathon flicks his fingers, flaps his arms, and makes trilling noises with his tongue, especially in moments of strong emotion. He speaks mostly in a high-pitched monotone.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Loki Laufeyson loves to assume the T-pose as a sign of confidence, and fidgets with his hands when he's nervous or upset. Another frequent tic (especially in the Loki series) is a quick Hair Flip to straighten his messy hair after a stunt or a timeslip.
  • During combat, Bucky sometimes swings his artificial arm around 360 degrees vertically at the shoulder. Possibly this has a practical mechanical purpose that helps it function during heavy use.
  • Wanda Maximoff will sometimes tilt her head in the manner of a Quizzical Tilt when she's about to attack. Notable instances include right before she attacked Tony Stark at the airport fight (Captain America: Civil War), before she threw Monica Rambeau through a brick wall and clear past the town limits (Wanda Vision), and right before she massacres the Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
• Metropolis:
  • Robot Maria's jerking her shoulders, whiplashing her neck and squinting her left eye a bit.
  • Rotwang has a habit of raising his left eyebrow whilst thinking.
  • Freder grabs hold of anybody who happens to be nearby when he rants.
  • Joh Fredersen grabs his hair with his hands on the rare occasions that he gets scared.
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Sir Bedivere habitually lifts up the visor of his helmet to look at something or speak.
• In Morgan, Morgan has a particular gesture in which she puts her hands palm down at the edge of a table, then turns them palm up. People get hurt soon after.
• Mr. Popper's Penguins: Bitey and Lovey were so named because they peck people a lot and snuggle random people and objects respectively.
• In Nanny McPhee, the eponymous nanny makes a "hm" sound when someone asks her a yes-or-no question as a way of evading the question.
• Bart from The Night Clerk sometimes shakes his hands, especially when he walks or runs.
• In the Ocean's Eleven movies, Rusty is seen eating something in almost every scene. His actor Brad Pitt explains it as stemming from the fact that busy as Rusty is, he never has the chance to sit down for a proper meal.
• The Pink Panther: Dreyfus's eye twitches whenever he gets angry or stressed.
• Pirates of the Caribbean:
  • Captain Jack Sparrow runs with his arms in the air, flailing them as he moves. This has been dubbed "the lizard run" by fans of the series.
  • Captain Barbossa widens his eyes and tilts back his head when he emphasizes things in speech.
• Prisoners: Detective Loki always blinks very slowly and deliberately.
• In Road to Perdition, psychopathic hitman Harlan Maguire (Jude Law) has a habit of twirling a coin over his fingers in boredom or frustration. Pretty tame when you consider his other hobbies....
• RoboCop: Murphy shows several tics that get carried over into RoboCop, revealing the man beneath the machine. They become Robocop's trademarks:
  • The gun twirl, trademark of Show Within a Show character T.J. Lazer, which is how his partner recognizes him after his death and cyborg makeover in RoboCop.
  • Driving fast down the ramp in the police parking structure, bottoming out his suspension and scraping the bottom of his car against the ground.
• In Secret Window, Mort's habit of opening his mouth and clicking his jaw, which occurs more and more often as he becomes more and more unhinged. This is an actual symptom of schizophrenia.
• Pierre from The Sense of Wonder rubs his fingers together and runs his hands along objects he passes, especially plants.
• Hiroko Asami from Shin Ultraman often slaps her own butt to motivates herself.
• Somebody I Used to Know: Ally tells herself "you got this" in a mirror to psych herself up for something twice. In the third and final time, she sings a ditty to psych herself up, representing how she's slowly finding her creative spark again.
• Splash: Madison tends to bite her lower lip when thinking or embarrassed.
• Star Wars:
  • C-3PO walks with his legs very straight. He does have knees, but he just doesn't bend them very often.
  • Both Anakin and Vader tend to stand with their legs apart, hands clasped behind their back. Vader also likes to stand with his thumbs hooked behind his belt, or while doing a Badass Arm-Fold. Vader's go-to gestures are clenching his fist and pointing very emphatically.
  • Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious has a very distinctive posture while walking where he keeps his arms high at his sides, and his elbows and wrists bent so his hands hang limply in front of his chest in a matter rather reminiscent of a praying mantis. This probably has something to do with keeping his hands at the ready to dispense the Force lighting at a moment's notice. Palpatine also loves to suddenly smirk by turning one corner of his mouth up, and, of course the chuckle.
  • Leia often presses her cheek to someone's (usually Han's) chest when she hugs them so her face is still visible. She does this in the original trilogy and sequel eras.
  • Han Solo takes up as much space as humanly possible when he's sitting by slumping down, propping his feet up on the table, spreading his legs, and draping his arms over the backrest. If he can't do any of those things he leans forward with his elbows on the table. He also tends to keep his head cocked at strange angles, shrug in an exaggerated manner, and make dismissive gestures with one hand.
• In The Sting, Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) has many tics, including the way he holds a cup of coffee and the way he throws one shoulder back.
• The Trip: Before Paul's trip begins, he rubs his fingers together and at one point walks his fingers along a railing.

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