The co-star who called Burt Reynolds clueless: “I’m trying to make sure I don’t fall into that”
Burt Reynolds was a Hollywood legend for the better part of six decades, and during that time, he made a number of classic movies that have stood the test of time. Bizarrely, though, one of his very best films, and the one that finally landed him an Oscar nomination, was a project that Reynolds hated passionately. In fact, he disliked his time on the film so much that he nearly came to blows with the director and fired his agent in the aftermath of the shoot – before being dubbed “clueless” by one of his co-stars for his behaviour.
In 1997, Paul Thomas Anderson announced himself as a significant filmmaking force with Boogie Nights, his seminal drama set within the ’70s porn industry. Reynolds starred in the film as the ageing director Jack Horner, and his performance was rapturously received by critics, who declared it a comeback for the star. However, Reynolds was decidedly unhappy with his participation in the film, telling any journalist who would listen that he had always been uncomfortable with the material. He reportedly turned the film down seven times but finally said “yes” at the urging of his agent – who he summarily fired soon after the shoot.
In an oral history published by Grantland, Newsweek critic David Ansen’s read of the situation was, “Reynolds thought he was in a dirty movie and wanted out and wasn’t happy.” There is a lot of truth to this suggestion, and Reynolds’s agitation played out on set on multiple occasions. It’s now well-known that he and Anderson didn’t see eye to eye on anything, and it all supposedly came to a head when he dragged the director outside a house they were shooting in to call the 27-year-old a “little punk kid.” Actor Tom Lenk then claimed he saw Reynolds take a swing at Anderson.
Despite the tumultuous shoot, the movie turned out incredibly well, and Reynolds earned an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor.’ Not even achieving something he’d never experienced could lessen Reynolds’ ire, though, and he always maintained that Boogie Nights wasn’t his kind of film. However, he once admitted that he had never actually watched the movie, categorically telling Conan O’Brien that he “didn’t want to see it.”
Amazingly, even though the bad blood between Reynolds and Anderson was very real, the director actually offered the star the chance to be in his follow-up picture, Magnolia. Reynolds, therefore, had the chance to star in another modern classic, but he flat-out refused, telling The Guardian in 2015, “I’d done my picture with Paul Thomas Anderson. That was enough for me.”
All in all, it’s hard not to think that Reynolds was so bent out of shape about the pornography subject matter and his disagreements with Anderson that he couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Perhaps all he needed was to take a step back to recognise the piece of art he had been a part of, but it wasn’t to be. One thing is for sure, though – his dismissive attitude didn’t sit well with one of his co-stars.
In 2022, William H Macy – who played Horner’s assistant director ‘Little’ Bill – told Vulture, “I think Burt was sort of clueless as to what we were doing. I think all of us very early in the film thought, ‘Holy crap, this is extraordinary,’ and I think Burt was clueless. And he trashed the film after we wrapped, up until the time he got an Academy Award nomination.”
Ultimately, Macy believes Reynolds grew old and spectacularly out of touch with what was happening around him, and he never wants to be like that in his own career. He mused, “I’m probably now Burt’s age then, and I’m trying to make sure I don’t fall into that: not really listening, and not being abreast of what’s going on and staying humble.”
