From an early age Bottin enjoyed a steady stream of old horror films, as well as magazines like
Rick Baker, who promptly hired him. He worked with Baker on various films. Finally working on his own, his first big break was The Howling, where he was called to create an on-screen transformation from man to werewolf. Notably, Bottin's effect in The Howling appeared five months before his mentor Baker's similar scene in An American Werewolf in London
.
Bottin also worked on the Star Wars Cantina scene creatures.[5] He was, in fact, the tallest player in the Cantina band.
After asking cinematographer Dean Cundey to introduce him to director John Carpenter, Bottin was hired by Carpenter to create the special makeup effects for his 1980 film The Fog.[6]
In The Fog, Bottin provided the physical makeup effects, and had a small part in the film as Captain Blake. From there, Bottin's reputation grew when he again worked with Carpenter on The Thing. Bottin worked on The Thing seven days a week (including late nights) for a year and five weeks straight, producing every creature effect (with the exception of the transformed dog, which was partially done by Stan Winston).[7] According to the making of documentary on the DVD, Bottin's schedule was so punishing, and his attention to detail so precise, that after filming finished, he was hospitalised with exhaustion and pneumonia.
Although his work was at first criticized for being too gruesome or distracting from the film's psychological themes, it has since been credited for actually enhancing the feel of the film.[citation needed] In one scene in which a character's head stretches off, Bottin decided to melt plastic. Little did he know that the melted plastic released explosive paint thinner so when the director decided to put flame under the camera lens the entire prosthetic exploded.[6]
^According to the State of California. California Birth Index, 1905–1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com
