‘Boogie
Nights’
Inspiration
Paul Thomas Anderson was born in Studio City, CA on January 1, 1970 to Bonnie and Ernie Anderson.
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“You know the first thing they should’ve taught you at hooker school? You get the money up front.”
-Sydney to Clementine
Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson is one of today’s most acclaimed and essential
young filmmakers. He has swept the motion picture industry with a
powerhouse trio of films that have breathed life and exuberance into an
industry that is all too often ladened with films exhibiting massive
deficiencies of originality and thought. PTA’s genuine love of
filmmaking sets him apart from so many others.
PTA tends to keep himself out of the spotlight. Rarely will he pose
for magazine covers or photo shoots. Details involving future projects
and his personal life are often kept shrouded in secrecy.
Informational pieces regarding his personal life and family history are
few and far between. I’ve researched his background and unearthed a few
brief factoids that are consistent among many sources. Included is
information obtained from Cigarettes and Coffee, PTA’s unofficial
website, which he often praises and contributes to.
His father was a well-known voice actor who can be recognized for
his work on America’s Funniest Home Videos and The Love Boat. He also
created a character, Ghoulardi, who was a popular B
Movie/ horror film host in the sixties. Unfortunately, Paul suffered a
devastating blow when his father passed away in 1997 at the age of 73.
Incidentally, he has since named his production company after his late
father’s famous character Ghoulardi.
PTA also has two brothers and
four sisters. He is reputed to be estranged from his mother.
Academics never appealed to Paul. Being expelled from his
elementary school for fighting and bad grades and his quick departure
from Emerson College after two semesters demonstrated this. He also
attended New York University Film School for two days before dropping
out.
PTA moved on to begin his career by working as a production
assistant on various television movies and game shows. After performing
similar work for numerous low budget and independent films, PTA went on
to write and shoot a short film titled, Cigarettes and Coffee. This
24-minute excursion into the world of film shorts made it’s premier at
the 1993 Sundance Film Festival.
As a result of the buzz that Cigarettes and Coffee generated, he was afforded the opportunity to develop his first full-length motion picture,
Hard Eight. It was screened at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and the
1996 Cannes Film Festival. The picture received rave reviews for
critics and audiences alike and Anderson was dubbed one of the most
promising directors of 1997.
PTA lived up to the praise with his second feature, Boogie Nights.
The critically acclaimed porn film-making milieu pulled in three Academy
Award nominations, received the Boston Society of Film Critics Award
for Best New Filmmaker and the PEN Center USA West Literary Award for
Best Screenplay.
Anderson returned in late 1999 with his beautifully crafted mosaic
of American life, Magnolia. It appeared on more than 80 critics’ top
ten lists and pulled in over a dozen awards from all over the world,
including a Golden Globe Award. It also received three Academy Award
nominations.
What follows is an individual breakdown and commentary on each of PTA’s first three features.
Hard Eight was the feature film debut of Paul Thomas Anderson.
Directed in a gritty film-noir style, it is the story of a professional
gambler, his young protégé, and a slow cocktail waitress who are
fighting to push back the demons of their past. It is set against the
casino scene of Reno, Nevada (PTA has always held a fascination for
Reno’s casino nightlife), and showcases a wonderful ensemble cast, which
includes Phillip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L.
Jackson, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Hard Eight is based upon Anderson’s previous short film, Cigarettes
and Coffee, which also starred Phillip Baker Hall. The short garnered a
great deal of attention, especially from the Sundance Institute, and
they eventually invited PTA to develop his first feature at one of their
directors’ lab later that year. That project became Hard Eight.
The leading role was written specifically for Phillip Baker Hall,
who attended the month long lab with Anderson. Each director attends
the lab with two actors. John C. Reilly was the second actor to
accompany Paul.
The Sundance directors’ Lab afforded Anderson and his actors an
opportunity to develop the acting and concrete the storytelling. The
actors experimented with their characters and improvised material.
When the time came to shoot the film, Anderson called upon casting
director John Lyons to help in the casting of the remaining roles.
Anderson was a huge fan of Gwyneth Paltrow. Lyons approached Paltrow
with the script and she immediately accepted the role of Clementine.
Academy Award-nominated Samuel L. Jackson, who at that time was
riding high on the success of his previous film, Pulp Fiction, took on
the role of Jimmy. Anderson chose Jackson for his ability to epitomize
the “classic bad guy” image.
Production began in January of 1995 on location in Reno where
Anderson had had chosen when writing the screenplay. “I like
Reno…unlike Las Vegas, which is always so hot, Reno has a winter and the
feeling of a real city-it’s like an Old West town. I think shooting
Hard Eight in Reno enabled me to capture a state of mind that I wanted
for this film,” states PTA.
With its minimalist plot and shocking bursts of violence, this
unheralded film appeared to be a well-kept secret until it began popping
up on the top ten lists of several critics. Along with his follow-up
feature, Boogie Nights, Hard Eight marked the arrival of a talented and
promising new filmmaker.
“As a kid, I became obsessed by pornos. I searched them out,
obsessing over the humor and the camp—how bad the acting was, how odd it
all was. By the time I was sixteen…it actually became quite sad.”
-PTA in DETAILS, September 1997
Boogie Nights is one of the key films of the nineties and arguably
the most exuberant and alive American movies in years. With its amazing
kaleidoscope camerawork it echoes the Robert Altman of Nashville (his
signature piece) and the Martin Scorsese of Goodfellas. The script was
so well crafted that it attracted actors who would not normally consider
taking on such lurid material.
Although Boogie Nights is loosely based upon the real life of porn
legend John Holmes, it proves to be a classic Hollywood rise-and-fall
fable. The film follows the lives of an extended family of
pornographers in the late 70’s and early 80’s who aspire to
revolutionize the adult entertainment industry. We are taken on a
magnificent journey into a misunderstood world characterized by
loneliness, defeat, and the occasional bout of hope.
At the center of the film is how the diverse canvas of characters
comes together to form a family. They share in each other’s successes
and downfalls. PTA does not judge his characters or condemn their
lifestyle. Instead he invites the viewer to form his or her own
opinions. And, once again, Anderson brings to the screen an amazing
ensemble cast.
Mark Wahlberg plays the main character, Eddie Adams, who adopts the
porn star pseudonym Dirk Diggler. The role was originally to be played
Leonardo Dicaprio but he decided to take the leading role in Titanic,
which proved to be beneficial not only for Dicaprio but also for Boogie
Nights. Anderson later said that Wahlberg was definitely the right
choice and that everyone was satisfied with Wahlberg’s decision to take
the role.
Playing the Part of Jack Horner, the “family’s” father figure and
omnipotent director, is veteran actor and Hollywood legend, Burt
Reynolds. The father-figure image extended beyond the role of Jack
Horner to Burt himself. He often felt like the elder statesman amongst a
cast of predominantly younger actors. Referring to PTA, he jokes, “I
got socks older than him.”
Julianne Moore plays Amber Waves, porn starlet extraordinaire and
surrogate mother to her family of “damaged goods”. Moore was
immediately drawn to the project. “Amber is fairly representative of
the adult film actresses in that time period,” states Moore. “She’s
given up all ties to anything else; she’s completely immersed in this
world.”
Playing Jack and Amber’s other misled child, Rollergirl, is Heather
Graham. Anderson had originally considered Graham for the part after
seeing her remarkable breakthrough performance in Doug Liman’s Swingers.
“I was uncertain as to whether or not she would consider a role that
involved nudity since I’d never seen her take her clothes off in a film
before…but I guess that’s just a typical dumb guy attitude,” says
Anderson. Graham saw past the shock value and joined the project
after minimal convincing.
Boogie Nights marks John C. Reilly’s third time working with PTA.
He plays Reed Rothchild, porn actor, aspiring musician, and best friend
to Dirk.
Actor William H. Macy, who plays production assistant Little Bill,
describes the film perfectly: “For just a nanosecond, people thought
adult entertainment was going to become a legitimate art form. Boogie
Nights is a microcosm of that period of that time.”
“The book says, we might be through with the past, but the past ain’t through with us.”
-Jimmy Gator
Magnolia is a gripping mosaic of American life shown through a
series of intertwined vignettes. It follows twelve main characters
through one random day in the San Fernando Valley.
Anderson originally intended to write something “small and
intimate” that could be shot in about thirty days. But his intention
fell short as the story began to blossom and the characters became more
complex. “I still think Magnolia is small and intimate,” states PTA.
“It just took 200 pages and 90 days to get the right amount of small and
intimate.”
A movie of this stature, with its operatic take on love, family,
and unhappiness, called for a cast willing to push the envelope.
Anderson wrote the script specifically for an ensemble of actors he
knows and trusts, with a few new additions thrown into the mix.
At the center of the Magnolia tapestry is Earl Partridge, played by
Jason Robards. Partridge is a dying man who is coming to grips with
the mistakes he has made in his life and what he can do during his last
days to right some of those wrongs. This was Robard’s first time
working with PTA and found that playing a dead man was sort of prophetic
since he himself had recently recovered from a near fatal illness.
One thing that Earl wants before he passes is to make good with his
estranged son, Frank T.J. Mackey, the self-proclaimed “Master of the
Muffin”. He is the Tony Robbins of seduction and this is exhibited in
his high priced seminars aimed at lonely men looking to gain an
advantage when it comes to the ladies. Tom Cruise, who also finds
himself working with Anderson for the first time on Magnolia, plays
Mackey. Cruise had approached Anderson about a possible partnership
after viewing Boogie Nights. The two became fast friends.
Acting a liaison between father and son is Earl’s male nurse Phil
Parma, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman offers a very
different portrayal of a caretaker as he is very much attached to Earl.
He takes pride in his work and harbors a platonic love for his patient.
Hoffman’s character is the only one in the film who isn’t trying to
clean up anything. He’s not fighting with his past.
Also in love with Earl is his young wife Linda, played by Julianne
Moore. She originally married the man for his money but has now fallen
in love with him as his life draws to a close. She’s on a quest to
make her marriage sincere by renouncing Earl’s will and all that comes
with it.
Earl Partridge’s influence extends beyond his family to the host of
his most popular game show: Jimmy Gator, played by Phillip Baker Hall,
hosts “What Do Kids Know?” Despite his wholesome reputation in the eye
of the public, his life is a moral and ethical mess. “Jimmy has
ridiculed people and trampled on people all of his life, but has the
public persona of being a kind and amiable father figure, full of good
television cheer,” states Hall. “Now that he’s facing the end of his
life, he’s being asked question he can’t (bring himself to) answer.
He’s got like 12 hours to make 60 years right, to try to come to terms
with his regrets and find forgiveness from his daughter.”
Among the many other characters that make up the finely woven
fabric of the film are Jeremy Blackman, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy,
Melora Walters, and Ricky Jay. While at three hours Magnolia is
definitely not suited to everyone’s taste, those who exercise a bit of
patience and allow the story to unfold are in for a special treat.
