An assessment of Reynolds’s Oscar-nominated performance in the Paul Thomas Anderson film:
Reynolds fired his agent before the acclaim for the film and his performance started rolling in; he had seen the rough cut and hated it, and his contentious relationship with Anderson throughout the shoot and promotional campaign deepened his regret. Cinema history is littered with examples of perceived disasters turned canonical classics, and it seems likely that Boogie Nights simply wasn’t to Reynolds’ taste. Whatever the case, there are two important things to consider about the casting of Burt Reynolds in the movie.
