Wilson considered joining Marines after film flop

Hollywood actor Owen Wilson almost joined the US Marines when his debut movie received the worst test audience rating in the history of studio Columbia Pictures.

Bottle Rocket, directed by Wilson's friend and future Royal Tenenbaums film-maker Wes Anderson, failed to impress viewers at early screenings in 1996.

So Wilson decided to research a career in the military.

Wilson tells American magazine Maxim: "The studio said Bottle Rocket was their worst-testing movie in history, so I looked into the Marines.

"Maybe I was influenced by An Officer And a Gentleman. Or those marine commercials - they were so cool! Like a Led Zeppelin song come to life, full of people pulling swords from rocks and fighting lava monsters."