Waiting for Bottin

Written by Scott Essman

From 1980 to 1995 Rob Bottin was one of the most accomplished special makeup effects artists working in motion pictures. With groundbreaking work in films like The Howling, The Thing, Explorers, Robocop, Total Recall and Seven, he set new standards for the craft.

But after 1999 and Fight Club he dropped almost completely out of sight, with a scant few credits in the early part of the next decade and none since.  Certainly, Bottin has left a legacy of great work that provides inspiration for film buffs and emerging artists alike. And now there’s only a vacant shop where his legendary Azusa studio used to be.  The makeup and creature genius ran his operation out of an old public works building at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, its own little magical cavern a freeway ride from the magic of Hollywood. From there he nurtured his distinctive design aesthetic, perhaps unsurpassed by anyone other than his mentor Rick Baker, and Dick Smith, a mentor to Baker and many other makeup artists.

In the 1980s, Bottin’s work was possibly even more innovative than Baker’s, as he rose to become the most prominent special makeup effects artist of that significant era in the field.  Though his productivity slowed through the 1990s—there were rumors that he became burned out—his body of work still stands the test of time. His story is equally interesting.

Bottin was only 13 when he first became an active participant in the movies, as apprentice to Baker, a future six-time Oscar winner for Best Makeup.  His first major film, with Baker, was Dino De Laurentiis’s lavish 1976 remake of King Kong.

Their next big job was working on the colorful aliens in the celebrated cantina sequence in George Lucas’s Star Wars (1977).

“I wanted to be just like Dick Smith,” says Rick Baker, reflecting on his own early career. “And all of a sudden this 13-year-old kid, Rob Bottin, came along. Rob did this drawing of Lon Chaney from Mockery that was amazing. It blew me away. He ended up coming out to my North Hollywood shop on the weekends. I thought I’d be like Dick Smith and take him under my wing and teach him. He then spread the information to everyone. And it’s helped to elevate the state of the art.”

At age 18 Bottin, the neophyte effects technician, started his own company Rob Bottin Productions. His first feature credit was as special makeup effects designer and special effects designer on Joe Dante’s Piranha (1978). He later did the monster effects on Roger Corman’s Humanoids From the Deep (1980). He also built a Baker-designed gorilla for Tanya’s Island in 1980.

His career really took off with the special makeup effects in John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980), in which he also had a bit part as the decaying Captain Blake of a lost ship, and Joe Dante’s The Howling (1981).

For the latter, he created a special makeup milestone with his werewolf transformation. The werewolves in The Howling became animals without camera cuts or dissolves; Bottin’s wolves’ noses elongated and sprouted ears and hair. Much like mentor Baker’s work in An American Werewolf in London and Smith’s effects in Altered States, Bottin’s wondrous creations in The Howling ushered in the era of special makeup effects.

“I think that the effects in that scene are probably less sophisticated than Rick Baker used in American Werewolf, but they look better,” says Dante. “The way John Hora lit them [in The Howling] disguised their weakness, whereas the way they were lit in American Werewolf, it was very bright and you could see the texture of the rubber. I think The Howling is one of the best-looking movies I’ve ever done.”

Just as vital as Bottin’s relationship with Dante was his  a decade-long relationship with a singular performer. “The core of The Howling’s transformation to me is Rob Bottin’s genius in the way he storyboarded out the various stages,” says actor Robert Picardo, who played werewolf Eddie Quist in The Howling. “And, Rob, bear in mind, did this movie when he was 20, so he was an extraordinary talented guy. In addition to that, Rob has very clear ideas as to how he wants his makeup to work, so he helps direct those particular scenes, the transformation scenes; obviously Joe was there, but Rob knows the makeup from the inside out, so he makes certain suggestions, technical suggestions of how I might move or exaggerate either a grimace or a facial gesture. I’m listening obviously to Joe, but I’m also listening to Rob so that he gets what he wants from the way he completes the makeup. That was a tremendous help to me, and it has been in all the collaborations that I’ve had with both Joe and Rob.”

Bottin reteamed with writer-director Carpenter for the 1982 remake of The Thing.

His outlandish, over-the-top special makeup effects may be viewed as Bottin’s signature work. Myriad effects, including a husky dog that comes apart and transforms into a hideous monster, and a man whose head falls off a human body and becomes a spider, were breathtaking.

Bottin worked again with Dante, creating cartoonish creatures for the “It’s a Good Life” segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and his comic fantasy Explorers (1985).   Their director-effects artist relationship ultimately spanned five films and the TV series Amazing Stories, in which they collaborated to create the titular character in the episode “The Greibble.”

In the mid 1980s, Bottin also created multiple characters for Ridley Scott’s fantasy Legend. His realization of the character of Darkness on actor Tim Curry and Meg Mucklebones on Picardo are among the most imaginative fantasy characters ever created for film.

For his next big project, Bottin created the robotic suit and numerous special makeup effects for Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop.  He also created many makeup illusions for George Miller’s The Witches of Eastwick (1987).

It was his elaborate work on Verhoeven’s sci-fi adventure Total Recall (1990) that finally won Bottin the Oscar for visual effects.  For the project, he created numerous mutant makeups, a Robert Picardo-inspired Johnny Cab robot, and the unforgettable splitting woman’s head that Arnold Schwarzenegger dons.

Come the 1990s and Bottin’s worked slowed significantly. His makeup films included Seven and Mission: Impossible and he created numerous character makeups for Fight Club. However, increasingly, he shunned giving interviews and took on fewer projects.

Always eager to direct feature films, Bottin was long-rumored to both direct and create makeup for Freddy vs. Jason, an all-out battle of horror heroes, though he apparently priced himself out of the job as his concepts were too elaborate for the producers.

With his shop a virtual ghost town and no directing opportunities on the horizon, his next move continues to remain a mystery. Whether he succeeds in directing or returns to creating fantastic effects, Bottin’s impact cannot be overstated.
His longtime friend and makeup collaborator, Vincent Prentice, when asked about Bottin’s whereabouts, stated simply that Bottin is getting ready to re-emerge.  When asked with what, Prentice paused, smiled, and stated, “the next big thing.”