Separated from a fellow explorer on an uncharted
planet, Jason Presson (left) and Ethan Hawke are
startled to encounter the space creature Neek
inside an alien ship in Paramount Pictures'
"Explorers." The film is a story about three young
boys who share a common dream and make an amazing
discovery which propels them on a fantastic
adventure.

It was midnight in London, where master makeup effects artist Rob Bottin was winding up one in an impressive list of feature film projects when the telephone rang.

"We need a family of aliens," said Michael Finnell, executive producer of Paramount Pictures' new science fantasy "Explorers," produced by Edward S. Feldman and David Bombyk.

"What do they look like?" came Bottin's reply.

"Well," said Finnell, "we want something really outrageous, and that's why we called you."

For 25-year-old Bottin, an 11-year veteran and the indisputable boy wonder of motion picture makeup magic, such calls have become routine. Before he knew it, his bags were packed and he was touching back down in Los Angeles.

Directed by Joe Dante from an original screenplay by Eric Luke, "Explorers" is the story of three young boys who share a common dream and make an amazing discovery which propels them on a fantastic adventure.

"When I was a kid, I had a big imagination. I wanted to fly to the moon and be a hero--be Superman--the stuff you see in comic books. The explorers get to do that. Their imagination becomes real. They end up going into outer space and meeting aliens--but what's great about these aliens is that you find out they're children, too, and they have stolen their father's car to go out on their own adventure," says Bottin.

"Just as the three explorers are feeling really important, who shows up but an alien version of the parental figure--the one we've all experienced when we were trying to do something forbidden. I was really crazy as a kid, and my father always showed up...That's what I like about this movie. It says that throughout the universe--no matter where you are--things are the same!"

The youngest of five children, Bottin grew up in the industrial Los Angeles suburb of El Monte where he was weaned on a steady diet of monster movies and magazines. His father, a foreman for a van and storage company specializing in motion picture props, inadvertently fueled Rob's passion at the age of seven by showing him the crate where a Frankenstein mummy was stored.

"I just stood there for two hours looking at him because I thought he was real. It was peaceful in the sense that he didn't move, and yet I had seen him in the movies and it had really scared me. I guess you could call it a major event in my life."

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