What Dracula From The Last Voyage Of Demeter Looks Like In Real Life

There have been a lot of live-action versions of Dracula over the years, but few of them are as outright monstrous as the creature featured in 2023's "The Last Voyage of the Demeter." This version of the classic vampire is an absolute horror to behold, with bat-like wings, elongated ears, and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It's such a ghoulish, inhuman rendition of the character, that it may be easy for audiences to forget that there's an actor under all that prosthetic makeup.

The Dracula featured in "The Last Voyage of the Demeter" is played by none other than Javier Botet — and the drastic difference in appearance between the real-life actor and his on-screen persona may prove shocking to some viewers. If Botet's name sounds familiar, it's probably because the performer has been routinely involved in major horror films for well over 15 years — and in most cases, he's playing the paranormal.

For the bulk of his career in film and television, Javier Botet has worked as a specialized type of actor known as a creature performer. As the name implies, that means he more often than not portrays inhuman or monstrous characters that require a lot of preparation in the way of prosthetics and makeup. In addition to Dracula, Botet has played some of the most terrifying horror movie villains out there. He has appeared as the Crooked Man in "The Conjuring 2," a Xenomorph in "Alien: Covenant," various forms of It in 2017's "It" and 2019's "It Chapter Two," and Slender Man in "Slender Man," just to name a few. Suffice to say, he knows his way around horror.

Interestingly enough, Botet has the unique capacity to physically manipulate his body — something which he uses to great effect in his creature roles. ""I have a disease called Marfan syndrome. It makes people skinnier, taller, and very flexible," the actor explained in an interview with the BBC. "So I was all my life very flexible, all my life doing weird tricks and things to enjoy with my friends [using] very creepy movement." In the same interview, Botet described himself as "born to perform."

While many of Botet's biggest roles are scare-filled creature flicks, he has also amassed credits in non-horror productions — some of which have him in prosthetics, while others don't. Over the span of his work, Botet has appeared in all manner of Spanish TV shows and films. Recent years have also seen him cross over to mainstream sci-fi and fantasy franchises, appearing as an undead wight in "Game of Thrones" and the alien Ba'ul in "Star Trek Discovery."

While Botet has played a cavalcade of mainstay monsters in his time, he had long awaited the opportunity to sink his teeth into the role of Dracula. The actor did once play the character all the way back in a 2007 episode of the Spanish series "Los hombres de Paco," but he desired to bring the horror icon to life in a full-fledged monster movie. "Last Voyage of the Demeter" turned out to be his big shot.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Botet spoke about getting cast as Dracula and collaborating with director André Øvredal once again on "Last Voyage of the Demeter." "For me, it would be an honor, and finally it happened," he recalled. "It was great to know that André Øvredal was directing, because after a lot of projects, you need to meet a lot of new people, it's fine, but always when you are going to need a big crew, when you've worked already with somebody, it's easier, it helps. I remember it was so easy, and so nice."

Botet particularly relished the chance to portray Øvredal's unique take on Dracula — an brutal, animalistic being who undergoes an arc throughout the movie from a weakened creature of the night to a terrifyingly powerful force of darkness. "Our Dracula was not a classical, sexy guy, so for me, it was good to try something different, something more heavy," the actor said.