THE HAND - MICHAEL CAINE JOHN LANSDALE ORIGINAL ANIMATRONIC HAND FROM THE CARLO RAMBALDI ARCHIVES

An original animatronic hand created by Carlo Rambaldi from the production of Oliver Stone’s early film
The Hand
(Warner Bros., 1981), about John Lansdale (Michael Caine), a cartoonist who loses his drawing hand in a car accident, and becomes terrified as the severed hand murders people who anger him.
Rambaldi used Oliver Stone's hand cast when creating the hand, which is 1:1 scale. It is controlled by metal chains and exposed wiring, and exhibits wear from production use. A label with the number 72.320 is present.
The animatronic comes from the personal archive of the film’s special effects artist, Carlo Rambaldi. Stone had Rambaldi design 30 different hands, all to serve different functions. He ultimately created eight mechanized hands. In a
Fangoria
interview with Bob Martin in 1981, Stone said:
“Carlo Rambaldi worked like a dog on this picture. You’ve got to realize how difficult it is to build a mechanical hand—it’s so small, so you’ve got relatively little space to work in, compared to a shark or an ape. He worked so hard and long on those mechanicals…”
Stan Winston and Thomas R. Burman did additional makeup work on the hand.
The film was Stone’s first high-budget studio feature as a director. He was offered the project after winning an Academy Award for his breakthrough screenplay
Midnight Express
(Columbia Pictures, 1978). Reviewing the film in
The New York Times
, Vincent Canby wrote that the film suggested he was “a director of very real talent.”
3.25 x 4 x 10.25 inches
PROVENANCE From The Carlo Rambaldi Archives