Beginnings are never easy, and even now established directors like Wes Anderson had difficulties getting the public to connect with their first film. The director remembers how ‘Bottle Rocket’ It was an absolute failure, which did not convince the public, critics or at the box office..
“When we made it, they hated it”
In addition to recently winning his first Oscar for ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar’, Wes Anderson now enjoys cult director status, thanks to films such as ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ and ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’. However, he did not achieve the same success with his debut film: ‘Bottle Rocket (Thief Who Steals a Thief)’ It failed miserably when it was released 28 years ago.:
“I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do and no one could convince me not to do it. At the time, my confidence was through the roof. When we finally made it and showed it to the public, they hated it. I was shocked, “It was a disaster. But that changed me. If I had known before, I probably wouldn’t have made that movie and I’m glad that in the end I did, because you need that blind confidence that you have when you’re young.”
Luke Wilson, Robert Musgrave and Owen Wilson in ‘Bottle Rocket’ (1996)
Co-written with Owen Wilson, the film It had a budget of 7 million, but it only managed to raise $560,069 box office. Furthermore, Anderson admits that at the time they “blamed the audience” and that he didn’t have a good time during the film’s first screening at a film festival:
“She was too confident and was quite shaken by this experience. It was a terrible way to show the film for the first time. There were 86 people in the audience, and halfway through the film there were only 20 left, I watched them leave. You saw them get up and you thought Maybe they only went to the bathroom. But they took all their things…”
Of course, Anderson did not debut on a very good footing, although it must also be said that time has put this film in its place, which has become a cult title. Among his admirers we find Martin Scorsesewhich considers it one of his favorite movies from the 90s. In Spain, ‘Bottle Rocket’ is available on Filmin.
Image: Guglielmo Mangiapane / Reuters
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