Friday, October 17, 1997
‘Boogie Nights’ offers peek into lives of porn stars
FILM: Behind-the-scenes look at industry portrays the human side
of ‘sex machine’ actors
By William Li
Daily Bruin Contributor
Imagine Marky Mark with less clothing than in his underwear ads.
Then throw in a funky bunch of pornographers, porn actors and a
crazy drug dealer. Add to that an electrifyingly pulsating disco
soundtrack and a keen eye for historical detail, and you wind up
with "Boogie Nights." Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson,
the film offers a very revealing peek at the "Wild Side" of porn
during the late ’70s and early ’80s.
Of course, it is much more complex than a bunch of people having
sex. If there is one misconception that Anderson would like to
dispel, it’s the notion that "Boogie Nights" is a porn film.
"I understand, on the surface, people will hear it’s about porn
and maybe run for the hills," Anderson says. "Or maybe they’ll run
to the theater thinking they’re going to see some big hot-fuck
action expose, and then they’re going to be really
disappointed."
With that in mind, one can appreciate the behind-the-scenes
examination of the emotional effects of the porn industry. By
delving into the lives and struggles of his characters, Anderson
portrays porn actors as human, as opposed to the debased sex
machines of their films.
"In that industry which can become so demoralizing so quickly
… you’re forced to create sort of family-like situations where
you sort of cling to people that can understand what you’re going
through," Anderson says. "You just have to do that. Otherwise, how
else are you going to survive in that world?"
Set in the San Fernando Valley, the world of "Boogie Nights"
focuses on Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a gullible young kid who
thinks his 13-inch penis is his special God-given talent. Such a
blessing for Wahlberg’s character has turned into something of a
curse for the actor.
"I already noticed that I got followed to the bathroom a couple
times, in Toronto," Wahlberg recalls. "I kind of looked around and
there was an audience. This was right after the movie … Everybody
started to come up and then I went over to the stall and everybody
just went, ‘Oh shit,’ and they walked out of the room. None of them
went to the bathroom. It’s kind of scary."
Drawn into a surrogate family composed of porn director Jack
Horner (Burt Reynolds) and actress Amber Waves (Julianne Moore),
Eddie renames himself Dirk Diggler and immediately takes the porn
industry by storm.
Dysfunctional families play a prominent role in the film. One of
the most emotionally charged scenes in the movie occurs between
Dirk and his intolerant mother. But finding a surrogate family in
the porn business, however understandable, turns out to be
ultimately tragic.
"I think (Dirk’s) pursuit of the love and support that he finds
with Jack and Amber … (is) even more dysfunctional than his
immediate family," Wahlberg says.
As a subplot, "Boogie Nights" examines the artistic decline of
porn. Porn experienced a kind of "golden age" during the late ’70s
and early ’80s. People were on the verge of accepting porn as a
legitimate form of entertainment before amateur video flooded the
market.
"They went from telling these stories and trying to make stuff
sexy and nice to just a product, to just a mill," says Don Cheadle,
who plays Buck Swope, another porn actor. "And now they’re just
churning it out … I don’t think there’s any compunctions about
what they’re doing now."
"Boogie Nights" is a personal movie for Anderson. Not that he
was involved in the porn industry, but growing up in San Fernando
Valley, Anderson was surrounded by porn.
"I’ve been watching porno movies since I was young, just as a
sort of horny young man and always had a different, sort of
interesting view of it, whether it was turning me on or making me
completely depressed or whatever," Anderson says. "Being in the
Valley, you’re surrounded by it in this sort of very peripheral
way."
To share his extensive knowledge with his actors, Anderson took
them to an actual porn set. The trip allowed the cast to see that
pornography is just a job to the people who are involved.
"This guy was sitting there with his wife," Wahlberg says.
"(Another) actor was sitting there with his wife. They’re talking
and all of a sudden their wives go up and they go at it with each
other and then come back and the guys are talking about sports and
then one of them walks away with the other one’s wife. That kind of
blew me away."
"Boogie Nights" neither condones nor condemns pornography and
its lifestyle as this judgment is ultimately left to the viewers to
decide.
"What I thought was really interesting about the film is that it
doesn’t try to have some sort of moral stance at the end that says,
‘Porn is bad,’" Cheadle remarks. "It just says, ‘This is commonly
the debt that these people accrue when they do these kinds of
things.’"
FILM: "Boogie Nights" opens today.
New Line Cinema
Mark Wahlberg plays a young porn star in "Boogie Nights."