The Story Behind Burt Reynolds Getting Nominated For Boogie Nights, A Movie He Absolutely Hated

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I’ve always been a big Burt Reynolds fan. It started long before his role in Boogie Nights (which you can find on the Criterion Channel). I first became a fan as a kid in the early 80s, watching movies like Smokey and the Bandit and especially Stroker Ace. I know Stroker Ace isn’t considered one of his best films, but I absolutely loved it when I was around ten years old.

Everyone knows Burt Reynolds from movies like Smokey and the Bandit, but for me, his work in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights really stands out. It’s considered his best film, and he even received an Oscar nomination for playing Jack Horner, a porn director. It’s funny though, because despite all the praise the movie gets from critics and fans, Reynolds himself wasn’t a fan of it!

Reynolds Was A Problem On Set

Paul Thomas Anderson is now considered one of the most important filmmakers of the 21st century, and his 1997 film, Boogie Nights, was his breakthrough. He’s since directed acclaimed movies such as There Will Be Blood and Magnolia, and his latest film, One Battle After Another (2025), might finally earn him the Oscar he’s been due for years. However, actor Burt Reynolds wasn’t a fan of Anderson’s work.

William H. Macy, who starred in Boogie Nights, confirmed in a 2022 interview with Vulture that the stories about Burt Reynolds causing difficulties during filming were accurate.

Oh, he wasn’t happy. I think Burt was sort of clueless as to what we were doing.

The problems didn’t end when the production wrapped either, Macy explains:

And he trashed the film after we wrapped — up until the time he got an Academy Award nomination.

It’s interesting how an Academy Award nomination can shift someone’s perspective. Burt Reynolds had been a popular actor and box office success for decades, but he’d lost some of Hollywood’s favor by the 1990s. While his return to prominence arguably started with the 1996 film Striptease – a movie I think doesn’t get enough credit – it was Boogie Nights in 1997 that truly re-established him as a leading man.

Reynolds Never Really Came Around, Though

Although Reynolds stopped criticizing the film once he received a Best Supporting Actor nomination, he continued to speak negatively about Anderson for years afterward. In 2015, while promoting his autobiography, he stated:

He was a confident, energetic young man. It felt like every single take we filmed was a completely new and original idea.

In 2012, Ryan Reynolds explained that while he enjoyed the film, he simply didn’t have a good working relationship with director Paul Thomas Anderson. He maintained that view, and in a 2015 interview with GQ, he was asked if he’d consider working with Anderson again after their time together on Boogie Nights. He responded:

I don’t think so. Personality-wise, we didn’t fit.

Great art often arises from difficult times, and the life of Burt Reynolds, who died in 2018, perfectly illustrates this. Despite disliking the making of the film, he received his sole Oscar nomination – and won a Golden Globe – for his performance in Boogie Nights.

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2026-01-25 17:12