After the movie bombed at the box office, Owen Wilson seriously considered joining the Marines, convinced that acting held no future for him.
Feature film debut of brothers Owen Wilson (Dignan) and Luke Wilson Anthony. Their older brother Andrew Wilson plays 'Future Man' in the movie, yet the three characters are not related.
Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson completely re-wrote and re-shot the beginning of the film, when Sundance initially refused the film.
Every summer since 2011, there has been a party at the motel where the film was made, in Hillsboro, Texas. Initially, it was concocted by the group "Reservoir Geeks" to help save the motel from closure after the economic downturn. The event helped to stimulate interest and support for the motel, and every year since it has been called the Lovely Soiree at the Bottle Rocket Motel.
James L. Brooks insisted that major work be done on the script, so he had Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson flown to Los Angeles and set up in an office on one hundred dollars a day. Having never flown first class in his life, Wilson tried to exchange his prearranged first class plane ticket for a coach ticket, hoping to pocket the difference in cash instead. When the airline told him the money would just go back to the credit card of who bought the ticket, he gave in and flew first class for the first time (source: "The Making of Bottle Rocket" featurette on the Criterion release).
Wes Anderson: Barely visible as a passenger on the bus near the beginning of the film, sitting right behind Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson.