Wes Anderson fans know “Bottle Rocket” as the director’s rough-and-tumble debut: a movie not quite indicative of his signature style. But EW reports that the film’s co-star (and co-writer) Owen Wilson revealed that the 1996 movie was initially intended to be something much different.
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Wilson spoke about “Bottle Rocket” in a new interview on SiriusXM‘s “Today Show,” and said he and Anderson, who first cooked up the idea for the film as students at University of Texas at Austin together, wanted something akin to an early Martin Scorsese film, like “Mean Streets.” “We started writing together then,” Wilson said. “And started “on Bottle Rocket.” And at first, it had kind of a different feel from what it ended up being. It was more sort of a Scorsese type, kind of a crime, cool story.” But the friends soon realized they were out of their depth there. “And then we realized that wasn’t necessarily in our wheelhouse, it wasn’t our experience,” the actor continued. “And so it changed into what Bottle Rocket became, which was more sort of comedic.”
Of course, “Bottle Rocket” mains a crime film, in a sense, albeit one where the main characters (played by Wilson and his brother Luke) steal things from a family house and a bookstore. But they’re not professional crooks like the ones that parade around Scorsese classics like “Goodfellas” or “Casino.” Still, after some tinkering with their concept, Wilson and Anderson made it into a 13-minute short: a bite-sized version of what they hoped would be the film’s first act. After showing it to American independent filmmaking legend L.M. Kit Carson, the short made its way to Sundance, impressing producer James L. Brooks, who helped the pair secure the funds to make it into a feature.
“Bottle Rocket” floundered at the box office, but did well enough for Wilson and Anderson to work together on “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.” By the time Anderson’s third film hit theaters, both and Wilson had made it in Hollywood, and the rest is history. But after “Tenenbaums,” Wilson and Anderson stopped writing together, and Wilson hasn’t written much since. Anderson found a new collaborator in Roman Coppola, however, with their latest film, “The Phoenician Scheme,” in theaters now.
As for Wilson, he currently stars in “Stick,” streaming on Apple TV+, and he’ll be back onscreen next year in “Meet The Parents 4” and a couple of other things.
