‘Boogie Nights’: Mark Wahlberg Recalls An Ill-Tempered Burt Reynolds Insisting He Use An Irish Accent On The Set Of P.T. Anderson’s Film

With a new movie in theaters today in “Arthur The King,” Mark Wahlberg is making the press rounds. And that includes a memorable stop-in with Josh Horowitz on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, where the actor talked about some of the biggest films in his career. Wahlberg had all kinds of anecdotes, like meeting James Cameron for “Titanic” and his bad haircut in “The Departed,” but one particular story stuck out: the irascible Burt Reynolds on the set of “Boogie Nights,” and a certain accent he used in a scene early in shooting.

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Paul Thomas Anderson‘s 1997 sophomore feature gave Wahlberg his breakout role, but Reynolds considered the movie beneath him at the time. And due to that, Reynolds was notoriously ornery on-set. “It’s been known that Burt Reynolds was more than not into what Paul was dishing out. Paul was young…” Horowitz started in the interview, but Wahlberg cut him off. “It wasn’t so much what Paul was dishing out.” To which Horowtiz replied, “Burt wasn’t in a good way at that time.” Wahlberg, continued, “He was the biggest movie star in the world for over a decade, and then all of the sudden…he just felt like it was so beneath him. He didn’t really understand the potential of this movie, obviously set in this world of pornography, but it was about some very interesting characters. It had a lot of potential to be something special, and Paul was a real talent.”

“And so he just blew his top a couple of times,” laughed Wahlberg as he continued. “I remember the first day, he comes in, and Paul comes to me, we’re about shoot the scene where we meet in…the back of the kitchen, and Paul goes, ‘Burt came to me, and he doesn’t really understand my rhythm of writing, so he wants to use an Irish accent.’ I was like, ‘what?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, he thinks this is gonna be more helpful to find the character, just go with it.” I thought he was pulling my leg. [I thought], ‘This is all actory-shcmatory, maybe they’re trying to keep me on my toes,’ and then all of the sudden, [imitates Burt’s Irish accent]. And I start laughing, and Burt goes, ‘Don’t you ever laugh at me, kid!’

Reynolds was testy throughout the shoot of “Boogie Nights,” but Anderson managed to keep his ego in check the entire production. But they still had to reshoot that opening scene between Reynolds and Wahlberg. “And then of course, at the end of the movie, Paul goes, ‘we’re gonna take another stab at [that kitchen scene],” Wahlberg joked. “So that was the only scene he shot with an Irish accent?” asked Horowitz. “Yeah, [Paul] got him off the Irish accent after that.”

Of course, Reynolds came around to “Boogie Nights” after it became cult and critical sensation, but it’s funny to hear from Wahlberg how ill-tempered the veteran actor was while shooting. To hear about that story and others, check out Wahlberg’s interview on “Happy Sad Confused” below.