Best Supporting Actor 1997: Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights

Burt Reynolds received his first Oscar nomination for portraying pornographic film director Jack Horner in Boogie Nights.

Boogie Nights is a great film about the porn industry from the 70's to the 80's.

Burt Reynolds plays the famous Porn director Jack Horner in a rather interesting way. As Horner he surprisingly never plays it exactly as you would expect. He could have easily played him as some extremely slimy type of character that would have been easy and incredibly obvious, but instead Reynolds gives a far more interesting performance. He begins in control of the film pulling in Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg) into the industry. I like how Reynolds shows Horner's complete control of the situation, and is cool, calm manipulation of others to make his films. It is interesting because Reynolds carefully shows that Horner is not really manipulating anyone to be vindictive or really to control but he just really wants his films made. Reynolds creates a palatable sense of warmth about it even when he's asking people to have sex in front of them. This is fascinating because Jack has all the actions of the creep, yet that is never the quality that is exuded from him. His presence instead has this stable sincerity about it in a weird way that you see him as genuinely someone trying to encourage these young people, even if it is to have sex for the amusement of others.

What I found most interesting about his performance is showing that Horner actually believes he is an artist. Reynolds excels in every scene in which he must show this and makes Horner's belief that he really is a filmmaker both fascinating and somehow realistic. I like the enthusiasm Reynolds into the film making scenes and his enthusiasm to the ideas that his "actors" tell him. Every scene is fascinating involving Horner's obsession and love of film is brilliantly played by Reynolds. Especially strong scenes are when he determinedly defends the film over the use of video tape pushed by a Porn producer. Reynolds emphasizes the passion of Jack as wholly genuine in this regard and his delivery throughout the debate is with guarded precision. He  infuses the right passion in this scene and all his scenes to the utmost effectiveness. His performance interestingly is not that loud, or obvious but just always on the mark. He is always right in this performance never false despite the inherit oddness of Jack Horner. Important to note the moments of Jack out of his typically warm state, though they still speak to Jack trying to help his "actors" as much as he can. The scene of his financier being arrested for child pornography, Reynolds is excellent in portraying the reactions of frustration and creates the sense of the moment of the conflict playing out in his head. Reynolds showing the exasperation in it as Horner finally having had it with the vices of the man who was putting up the money for him. We also see similar frustrations as the perceived quality of his product goes down. When Dirk picks his egotistical fight with Jack, Reynolds is great in the scene as he shows initially real warmth in trying to temper Dirk in his usual loving way. When Dirk doesn't stop, Reynolds plays the break so well by showing it as something that really has to force itself out as he tries to contain that anger as much as he can before he fully explodes as basically the father who has had enough with his wayward son. Jack of course follows this by his own low point of a cheap gimmick to film porn with a stranger in a limo, where the "stranger"'s insults against the qualities of the film lead to Jack attacking the man. Reynolds in the moment doesn't project it as anger at one person but every frustration over his current state of being in this moment. Contrasting that is his reconciliation with Dirk where Reynolds again brings the warmth so naturally as he too apologizes for his anger, and they find a real sincerity in the love between the pornographer and his "Star".