"My body is different, very peculiar," says Botet, 39, who most recently played an Egyptian god in The Mummyand a space xenomorph in Alien: Covenant and will soon appear as a leper in the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's It, as well as the title monster in Screen Gems' folklore-inspired Slender Man (which he is currently shooting in Boston). "When I was a child, I would stand in front of the mirror and fold my arms and legs to make unusual shapes. I'd move my elbows or fingers and think it was amazing. I was always playing with that."
When Botet was about 6 years old, he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that results in extreme height and slenderness — he grew up to be 6-foot-6 and just 120 pounds — as well as double-jointedness. The condition, along with seeing his first Star Wars movie that same year, gave him an unusual appreciation of aliens ("I was drawing creatures nonstop") and he dreamed of one day portraying monsters onscreen.
[THR]