13 Incredible Performances By Otherwise Terrible Actors

5. Burt Reynolds - Boogie Nights

Burt Reynolds has had a career defined more by being Burt Reynolds in movies than any characters, which says everything you need to know about his general ability as an actor. He's certainly a star, thanks to charisma mostly, but he's got some serious black marks on his CV, where he mostly appears to be bored.

Perhaps because of the weight of repeated missteps throughout the 1980s and 90s, it looked like his career was over by the time he turned up in Boogie Nights, but it turned out to be one of his finest ever appearances. His Jack Horner is a huge presence, seedy and charming without ever going over-the-top.

The great irony, of course, is that Reynolds hated working for Paul Thomas Anderson on the film...

“I think mostly because he was young and full of himself. Every shot we did, it was like the first time [that shot had ever been done]. I remember the first shot we did in Boogie Nights, where I drive the car to Grauman’s Theater. After he said, ‘Isn’t that amazing?’ And I named five pictures that had the same kind of shot. It wasn’t original. But if you have to steal, steal from the best.”

Nice way to be grateful for a director making you excel there, Burt.