Boogie Nights: Why Burt Reynolds Hated It (& Sacked His Agent)

 Boogie Nights: Why Burt Reynolds Hated It (& Sacked His Agent)

Boogie Nights is a hugely popular Paul Thomas Anderson flick, but Burt Reynolds ended up hating the project and sacking his agent because of it.

Imagine landing a role in a project with budding stars, receiving an Oscar nomination and disliking the film and the process so much that you fire the person who landed you the role in the first place. Hollywood is as fickle place where golden opportunities rarely come around, and most performers would be grateful for an experience like that. After all, how often do stars like Dwayne Johnson, Brad Pitt, or Jennifer Aniston find themselves nominated for an Oscar?

Back in the 90s, the film Boogie Nights came along and became a surprise hit, effectively catapulting Mark Wahlberg to movie stardom. Burt Reynolds was his co-star in the hit, and the process wound up causing a wave of problems for Reynolds.

Let’s look at the story behind Burt Reynolds’ hate for the film Boogie Nights!

Reynolds Lands A Lead Role And Hates The Movie

First, let’s take things back to the beginning and see what in the world happened here. To do so, we need to head back to the 90s when Boogie Nights was coming together and before a tidal wave of negativity plagued Burt Reynolds.

During the casting process, Reynolds was able to land the role of Jack Horner, who was meant to be the ring leader of the film studio that was to make Dirk Diggler a household name. Reynolds, to be fair, was an excellent choice for the role. He was a seasoned acting vet who had enough range to pull it off on the big screen.

Prior to landing the gig, other actors were considered for the role of Jack Horner. According to MovieFone, Jack Nicholson, Bill Murray, and Albert Brooks were all in contention for the coveted spot, but Reynolds got this job. Turns out, this was a terrible thing for the performer.

According to the Washington Post, Reynolds hated the movie and his experience on it. He would tell Conan O’Brien that it “just wasn’t my kind of film” and that it “made me very uncomfortable.”

Not only that, but he also had issues with the film’s director, saying, “No, I didn’t want to hit him in the face — I just wanted to hit him. I don’t think he liked me.”

Despite all of the issues that Reynolds had while filming, things would eventually work out and the film would hit theaters. Once it did, it would catch people by surprise and rocket to success.

The Film Becomes A Surprise Hit

For those that have seen Boogie Nights, you are all too familiar with the overall theme of the film, which is a bit taboo, to say the least. Despite the adult nature of the movie, it wound up netting great reviews and did well for itself at the box office.

Against a small budget of just $15 million, Boogie Nights was able to net itself over $43 million at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo. This was by no means an insanely huge hit, but it was still a financial success that earned itself a ton of press and great word-of-mouth from its viewers.

When awards season rolled around, Boogie Nights was the talk of the town. At the Academy Awards, it would be nominated for several different prestigious awards. Reynolds was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Julianne Moore was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and the film itself was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, according to IMDb. It may not have won anything, but the nominations proved that it was a solid flick.

Even though Reynolds received an Oscar nomination for his performance, he was still incredibly unhappy with how things turned out. Eventually, he would take matters into his own hands.