FILM · 1996 · USA
Bottle Rocket
24 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (24)
- #001
After the film's box office took off, Owen Wilson became convinced that acting would not offer him a future and seriously considered joining the Navy.
- #002
Every summer since 2011, a party has been held at the motel in Hillsboro, Texas, where the film was shot. It was originally invented by the group "Reservoir Geeks" to keep the motel from closing after the economic crisis. The event helped increase interest in and support for the motel, and it has been called the Good Party at the Bottle Rocket Motel every year since.
- #003
After Sundance initially rejected the film, Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson completely rewrote and reshot the film's opening.
- #004
It is the first feature film by brothers Owen Wilson (Dignan) and Luke Wilson (Anthony). Their older brother Andrew Wilson plays the 'Future Man' in the film, but the three characters are unrelated to one another.
- #005
Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson took the name Dignan from their close friend Stephen Dignan, and repeated the tendency with the name "Tenenbaum" from their other friend Brian Tenenbaum (for The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)).
- #006
It ranked seventh among Martin Scorsese's ten favorite films of the 1990s.
- #007
Co-writer and director Wes Anderson established such a good working relationship with cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman that Yeoman became his cameraman on all of Anderson's subsequent films.
- #008
When Anthony shows Dignan his sketchbook, it is the first time in the film that Owen Wilson says "wow."
- #009
The film received the worst test screening scores in Columbia Pictures' history at that time.
- #010
Wes Anderson first met writer, co-star and friend Owen Wilson when they enrolled at the University of Texas.
- #011
Initially, Owen Wilson had no plan to take a role in the film.
- #012
Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson made a thirteen-minute black-and-white short film titled Bottle Rocket (1993), first shown at the USA Film Festival in Dallas, Texas. They received an enthusiastic response and took it to Sundance, where it caught the attention of screenwriter L. M. Kit Carson, who passed it on to Polly Platt and James L. Brooks. Thanks to their intervention, the team was able to secure financial backing from Columbia Pictures to turn the short into a feature film.
- #013
James L. Brooks was worried about the way Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson handled rewrites, since they never took notes during meetings.
- #014
DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Wes Anderson): (mid-shot speed change): The final scene shifts from normal speed to slow motion.
- #015
It is one of the few Wes Anderson films in which Bill Murray does not play a character, as the two would not meet until Anderson's next film, Rushmore (1998). Murray stated in April 2021 that he had never seen Bottle Rocket.
- #016
According to the director's commentary on The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) DVD, Wes Anderson wanted this film's final scene set to Bob Dylan's "Billy (Main Title Theme)" from the Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) soundtrack. However, he could not afford the rights to use it. (Anderson later used the song in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), in the scene where Royal is thrown out of the house.)
- #017
The film was never shown in more than 49 theaters in the US, so it is no surprise that it failed to recoup its $7 million budget.
- #018
During the party, a black-and-white picture of Jacques-Yves Cousteau hangs on the wall. Cousteau would later be an inspiration for director Wes Anderson's film The Life Aquatic (2004), in which he made Steve Zissou.
- #019
Bob Mapplethorpe (Robert Musgrave) was named after the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.
- #020
The prison at the end of the film is called "Wasco", the same as the surname of production designer David Wasco, and also the name of a small town in Southern California located on California Highway 46 between Interstate 5 and California Highway 99.
- #021
The film premiered in Spain with only two prints, in Madrid (Ideal) and Barcelona (Arkadín). It screened for just seven days, subtitled only, and was seen by four hundred and thirty-two viewers. It was later released on DVD.
- #022
The Bluetones referenced the film heavily in their song "Bluetones Big Score".
- #023
The two-disc Criterion DVD set became the four hundred and fiftieth release in the Criterion Collection.
- #024
Mr. Henry, whom Dignan claims is a thief, was played by James Caan, who starred in the 1981 film Thief.
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