Introduction
Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s films have never been about making money. Throughout his oeuvre, only a few of them have actually turned a profit. This is especially true when you take into account the costs of marketing and promotional campaigns. Rather, since his 1996 debut Sydney aka Hard Eight, Anderson’s films have been about prestige, spectacle, and awards. Critically, he ranks among the most celebrated directors in cinema history, being nominated for eleven Oscars over the last quarter-century.
Additionally, much like his peers Wes Anderson and the Coen Brothers, every actor on the planet wants to work with him. If Sydney got the Studio City native noticed by his peers, it was his next feature, Boogie Nights (1997) that firmly established the director as a major force. The film results in making Anderson one of the hot mid-90s indie-film power players, along with David O. Russell, Quentin Tarantino, and Spike Lee.
25 years later, Boogie Nights is a film that is firmly entrenched in the pantheon of iconic independent films. Its now cultlike status has influenced the meme and GIF generation along with countless young directors who saw the film in the theaters with their collective jaws on the floor. Cinema Scholars celebrates this anniversary with a retrospective oral history, as told by the filmmakers and actors who took part in its making.
The Birth of Dirk
Paul Thomas Anderson grew up in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley, right in the middle of Hollywood’s Studio City. A young Anderson quickly became entranced with film, actors, and the entire system and culture that had given his father Ernie a successful career as a voice-over artist. The younger Anderson also quickly learned how to operate a Betamax camera. He subsequently began filming everything he could.
Another thing that the now teenage Anderson liked was porn, its laid-back culture, its seductive mystique, and even its sense of family. It was all around him in the San Fernando Valley. In high school, Anderson had come up with the idea for a mockumentary called The Dirk Diggler Story (1988). The short film was a 32-minute biography of the life and cheesy career of a fictional porn star. Anderson was immensely influenced by Rob Reiner’s mockumentary cult classic This Is Spinal Tap (1984).
P.T. Anderson on his way to the ‘New York Film Festival’ in 1997 stopped in Chicago to talk with legendary film critic Roger Ebert:
“When I was 17, I wrote a half-hour short called the “The Dirk Diggler Story.” I was so influenced by “Spinal Tap” that it was in my brain, so it was like, “Let’s play it as a documentary.” I’d seen this piece on “A Current Affair” on (porn actress) Shauna Grant, which was the cliched-but-true story of a girl from Iowa who comes to Hollywood on the bus, looking for dreams”
Lessons Learned
Having shot The Dirk Diggler Story with his childhood friend Michael Stein, Anderson wanted to revisit this strange and alluring universe as soon as he wrapped production on his debut film, Sydney. However, Anderson had issues with the studio during production. He lost the final cut on the film which was subsequently re-edited and retitled Hard Eight. The director would never again compromise with a film studio.
Michael Stein spoke with ‘Grantland’ in 2015 about working with Anderson in the late 1980s and playing the iconic Dirk Diggler:
“The comedy came from Dirk so badly wanting to be on top of everything and having no idea how oblivious he was…The first shot is Paul’s dad doing a voice-over. He had this great voice. He was the voice of ABC and did the voice-over work for the miniseries Roots…We were on an eight-hour shoot and ordered a pizza. A delivery guy comes there, and it looks like we’re shooting porn…A lot of our friends saw the movie and thought it wasn’t that great. But whenever somebody saw it that didn’t know us, they thought it was amazing”
Preproduction
Anderson was determined to not let the same mistakes happen twice when he began preproduction on what would become Boogie Nights. However, considering the director’s lack of experience and the film’s subject matter, this was not going to be an easy task. Still, Michael de Luca, a producer at New Line Cinema believed in him:
Michael de Luca spoke with ‘Grantland’ in 2015 about New Line Cinema taking a chance on P.T. Anderson and believing in his vision:
“It was easier for us to take chances with new people than compete for the already-established top-five directors in town…We tried to zig when the majors zagged…My boss, Bob Shaye, was a big proponent of provocative art films. I knew he would dig it. He liked stuff on the edge…Before we made the deal on the project, we agreed on a few things: The movie had to be under three hours and it had to be R-rated, not NC-17”
Several actors were considered for the now-iconic role of Eddie Adams aka Dirk Diggler. Included among them, are Leonardo DiCaprio, Joaquin Phoenix, Christian Bale, and Ethan Hawke. Anderson was 100% sold on DiCaprio and wanted him for the part. However, the future Oscar-winner was never fully committed. Eventually, he dropped out to star in Titanic (1997) but did recommend his Basketball Diaries (1995) co-star, Mark Wahlberg to Anderson.
Mark Wahlberg
Wahlberg was reluctant to take on the challenging role for several reasons. Chief among them was the film’s subject matter and how it related to Wahlbergs former sex symbol status as a pin-up guy. The Oscar-nominated actor had done a now-legendary 1992 photoshoot for Calvin Klein in his underwear. Subsequently, the result was that his buff body and sly grin were plastered on billboards and in magazines all over the planet.
Mark Wahlberg spoke with ‘Jake’s Takes’ in 2022 to discuss how his experience filming Boogie Nights turned him into a real actor:
“You know what, that was the moment I actually became a real actor, and I was no longer scared. To try stuff, to look ridiculous, to be vulnerable, and to just…just being fearless, you know? It was like, ‘Okay, gonna kinda (no pun intended) go for it and let it all hang out,’ and know that I was in an environment where I was safe. And I really stopped caring about what other people thought…I really wanted to become a real actor, and that was the moment.”
Paul Thomas Anderson spoke with Charlie Rose in 1997 about Wahlberg’s trepidations about taking on the role of a porn star:
“He said, “Listen, I love these 30 pages, and I know I’m going to love the rest of it, but I just want to make sure before I really fall in love with this and want to do it, that you don’t want me because I’m the guy who will get in his underwear…And I said, “I don’t know anything about that. I want you because I saw you in The Basketball Diaries,” you know, “and I want to hear what you have to say about the script.””
Burt Reynolds
Based on its fantastic script, the cast of Boogie Nights was soon filled with a solid supporting cast that included William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, Heather Graham, John C. Reilly, and Alfred Molina, among others. Additionally, Burt Reynolds had agreed to play the pivotal role of pornographer and father figure Jack Horner. However, the legendary movie star was not thrilled with the script, nor its director. As a result, the two, apparently, came to blows on the friction-filled set during filming.
The late Burt Reynolds sat down with ‘GQ’ in 2015 to discuss his uncomfortable experience working with P.T. Anderson on Boogie Nights:
“Personality-wise, we didn’t fit…I think mostly because he was young and full of himself. Every shot we did, it was like the first time [that shot had ever been done]. I remember the first shot we did in Boogie Nights, where I drive the car to Grauman’s Theater. After he said, “Isn’t that amazing?” And I named five pictures that had the same kind of shot. It wasn’t original. But if you have to steal, steal from the best.”
John Wildermuth spoke with Grantland in 2015 about properly channeling the increasing tension between P.T. Anderson and Burt Reynolds:
“Burt got so frustrated he pulled Paul outside into the backyard and started yelling at him, like a father, you know? “You fuckin’ little punk kid, don’t tell me what to do. You let all the other actors do free takes and you’re not letting me do any.”…Paul had his sly little smirk on his face…The reason I [think] that Paul baited Burt is that the next day we shot the scene in the backyard by the pool where Jack tells Dirk to do the scene and Dirk says, “It’s my big cock, I wanna do whatever the fuck I want,” and the two of them get into a shoving match. And all of that energy between those characters was real energy that had been building and manifesting over the weeks prior. And then it exploded all in that scene on camera”
The Sex
Boogie Nights, at its heart, is a film about family. It may be a family of drug-addicted pornographers, but they are a family. This was why the script was so coveted by the actors of the day. The dichotomy between the two tones in the film is its most appealing aspect. However, there’s no denying that Anderson’s film just barely avoids an X rating and is filled with a lot of sex. This proved to be challenging for the actors involved:
Julianne Moore stopped by ‘Watch What Happens Live’ in 2015 to discuss filming hardcore sex scenes in Boogie Nights with Mark Wahlberg:
“‘Boogie Nights’ was interesting because there was a lot that happened in front of people…So usually there are other actors not present and one of the things that was really weird about ‘Boogie Nights’ was that there were all these other actors there too!” Mark [Wahlberg] and I were doing this scene but then you pulled back and everybody else was watching us do the scene…That was challenging because of the size of the audience.”
The character of ‘Rollergirl’ in Boogie Nights is another critically important player. While she’s a young porn actress, she also acts as the surrogate daughter to Julianne Moore’s Amber Waves and Burt Reynold’s Jack Horner. She also is involved in perhaps the film’s most dramatic and violent scene. While Drew Barrymore and Tatum O’Neal were up for the role, Graham got the opportunity to read for Anderson and won the part.
Heather Graham spoke with ‘The A.V. Club’ in 2020 to discuss overcoming nerves when filming her Boogie Night’s nude scenes as a young actress:
“I think I was a bit nervous, but I just thought the writing was so good. As a young actress in Hollywood, you know, you get in these situations. It’s like, “Okay, are you willing to do nudity?” And I said “no” a lot. But when we got to that, I just was like, “Screw it, I’m going to do it. I think it’s really good.” You know, it’s very hard to be like a young actress in Hollywood and never do any nudity [Laughs.] because it’s just so often asked of women—especially, I guess, whatever roles that I was going up for. But I was totally nervous. Of course, as a woman, even if you look good, you want to nitpick every little flaw you think you have. But there was something free about just going, “Okay, I’m just going to do it”
The Cameos
Because Boogie Nights was a film about the porn industry set in the late 1970s/early-80s San Fernando Valley, Anderson used this as an excuse to cast several of the adult stars that the director had admired during his formative years. Adult film legend Nina Hartley has an extended part as the cheating and emasculating wife of Little Bill (William H. Macy). The director also hired these adult film stars so that he could have on-set advice when it came to filming sex scenes.
Adult film star Veronica Hart also has a small cameo, appearing as the judge at the custody hearing for Amber Waves. Hart has legitimate acting chops. Amber Hunter aka Lil’ Cinderella, Lexi Leigh, Summer Cummings, and Skye Blue all have minor uncredited roles in the film. Hart states that the director got in touch with her by reaching out to porn legend Ron Jeremy. Also, Hartley has stated publicly that Anderson was a fan of her work.
Veronica Hart spoke with Rachel Arieff in 2008 about Amber Waves and the challenging experience of working with P.T. Anderson:
“I think she was a cross between me and Annette Haven. P.T. was a fan of mine, and the wonderful thing that he said was that if he cast me again, he would never cast me as a prostitute or a porn star or anything like that…Because he’s under the impression that I can act, which is wonderful…P.T. was a guy doing mainstream stuff and he wasn’t afraid to put me in it…I appreciated that it was a really cool movie, that it even chose to deal with us. Usually we just don’t get dealt with.”
Sister Christian
Like a rug being pulled out from under you, Boogie Nights begins to go really dark right at the halfway point, on New Years’ Eve as the 1970s gets snorted into the 1980s. Drugs and videotape become the dominant force in the ever-expanding California porn industry. Alfred Molina, in the film’s third act, represents this manifestation as strung-out drug dealer, Rahad Jackson. The scenes inside his gaudy Encino home are among the film’s most tense.
In a movie that is filled with scene-stealers, the apex mountain may be our introduction to Rahad, wearing only a flowing silk robe, Y-fronts, and flip flops. Molina flails about with an insane look of ecstasy on his face as Night Ranger’s ‘Sister Christian‘ plays loudly in the background. Molina is on screen for only ten minutes, but his drugged-out performance is masterful.
Alfred Molina spoke with ‘Grantland’ in 2015 about getting into character and needing to make it bigger for P.T. Anderson:
“When I said yes to the part, they sent me those two songs, “Sister Christian” and “Jessie’s Girl.” I knew neither of them because neither was released in England. So I had to sit down for like three days on my own, playing those songs over and over and over so that I knew them backwards because they became so emblematic for the character…This was the first time in my life as a film actor that the director was actually saying, “A bit more, please.” P.T. kept coming from behind the camera going, “Bigger, make it bigger.””
Thomas Jane had his acting breakthrough in Boogie Nights playing erotic dancer and small-time drug dealer, Todd Parker. His toxic friendship with Mark Wahlberg and John C. Reilly starts a chain of events that culminates with the attempted robbery of Rahad Jackson, at his home. It’s a harrowing and nerve-wracking scene replete with firecrackers.
Thomas Jane spoke at the New Beverly Cinema in 2012 about his big acting breakthrough in Boogie Nights and getting inside the skin of Todd Parker:
“I’d bring in funny glasses, do my hair crazy and try all this different stuff like bringing in a flowered shirt to wear…I didn’t have any clue about who this guy was. I just knew that I was trying to find him, and then it just clicked in one day…One thing that’s notable about the way Paul Thomas Anderson works is the freedom he gives to his actors…We did have lines to say and stuff, but if you had an idea at the moment or a line to throw in or if something happens by mistake, he always encouraged that spontaneity and that freedom. That was what was so fun about working on ‘Boogie Nights’”
Prosthetics
Throughout Boogie Nights it is hinted at and insinuated that Dirk Diggler has a “special gift” and that everyone has “one special thing.” The running gag throughout the film is that Diggler has a very, very large phallus. Much like Steven Spielberg did for the first half of Jaws (1975), we do not actually see Diggler’s organ. Rather, we see the stunned expressions of the supporting cast when they gaze upon it for the first time. Robert Ridgley, who portrays ‘The Colonel’ does a double-take that is particularly hilarious.
Anderson, however, felt that it was essential that the audience actually see what all of the fuss was about. He also felt that it was better to wait until the film’s climax (no pun intended) to make the big reveal. After all, what would a film about the porn industry be without including a ‘money shot.’ As a result, Anderson’s special effects team got to work on crafting an 8″ prosthetic penis that would essentially go over Wahlberg’s real one during the film’s final scene.
P.T. Anderson spoke with ‘Cinemattractions‘ in 1998 about the legendary final scene in Boogie Nights and seeing it on screen for the first time:
“The reality is, when I wrote the movie and when we shot it, I wasn’t sure what to do – whether we should see it right away, like within the first forty-five minutes – get it out of the way…or whether it should stay to the end. It was never a question about whether or not to show it – it was about whether we show it earlier or whether we save it till the end. And we shot it both ways…Then in the very first assembly of the movie it was the first thing I took out. I said, we’re waiting till the end – it was just really clear to me…I still don’t really understand why I did it, to tell you the truth”
Release and Legacy
Boogie Nights may be an indie classic twenty-five years later, but after principal photography wrapped, Anderson and the suits at New Line Cinema had a plethora of problems to deal with. For one, the film was too long and needed to be edited multiple times. Additionally, the MPAA kept rejecting the film as rated R and were threatening to release the film as NC-17 or rated X. 40 seconds of the film were cut out, which was the difference between an R versus NC-17 rating. Further, the test scores for the film were not good.
Credit needs to be given to Bob Shaye, the founder of New Line Cinema. Most studio heads wouldn’t have spent the resources on marketing and promotion with test scores that low. They would just release it straight to video. Shaye believed in Boogie Nights and the talented team that made it. While arguments ensued between Shaye, Anderson, and de Luca, ultimately the film was cut to 2 hours and 35 minutes, re-edited, tightened up, and released nationwide as rated R. Anderson did what he said he would never do again. He compromised.
P.T. Anderson spoke with ‘Grantland‘ in 2015 about the struggle to get Boogie Nights released and how difficult it was to get all parties on board:
“I came up with what I thought was a viable solution to bring the movie closer to two hours, and Paul reacted, I wouldn’t say violently, but he reacted very negatively to the proposal, and to the cut that I had actually made for his benefit…We had put up the money, and I was just trying to not use coercion but just persuasion to help him see what I thought the issues were vis-à-vis the audience…I think my suggestions were correct, but as they were tendered to Paul they were just suggestions, and even though he didn’t have the final cut, he got the benefit of the doubt and pretty much the film that he wanted”
One might say that after Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson would go on to make more accomplished and more critically acclaimed work. The case can certainly be made that There Will Be Blood (2007) may be his greatest film and that Daniel Day-Lewis turns in one of the greatest performances in the history of the medium. However, he has never made a movie that is so full of life, so colorful, and so vibrant as Boogie Nights. Additionally, the cast of characters that he assembled for his second feature is absolutely astonishing.
25 years later, much like most of Anderson’s films, Boogie Nights is universally loved and praised. In the ensuing decades, the film has gained a cult-like following amongst the college crowd. Earning three Academy-Award nominations, the film was also a commercial success for Anderson, earning $43 million on a $15 million budget. Most interestingly are that as the years have passed, Anderson’s film is seen as less about porn and more about family. Boogie Nights, at its heart, is about family, dysfunction, forgiveness, and the ability to heal. Its themes still resonate strongly all these years later.
John C. Reilly spoke with ‘Vulture‘ in 2022 about working with P.T. Anderson and how Boogie Nights is really a film about family:
“Paul Thomas Anderson was the first one who put it all together, who was like, “I know you from this movie, and this movie, and this movie. And I know you can do more than you’ve been doing, so I wrote this part for you.”…Like all Paul’s movies, there’s some real stuff in there. It’s not really about porn; it’s about choosing your family. If your blood family doesn’t love you, you can choose another family. I know people in my own life who have done that, and that’s a very powerful, self-loving thing to do”
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