Few people realize that Paul Thomas Anderson's Oscar-nominated film Boogie Nights was adapted from Anderson's own short film, The Dirk Diggler Story. Conceived nearly a decade before the 1997 release of Boogie Nights, when Anderson was a senior in high school, The Dirk Diggler Story is a half-hour mockumentary lampooning the life of an adult entertainer. Featuring a coterie of family friends and edited on a pair of VCRs, the piece is Anderson's first real effort in film, credited as simply "a Paul Anderson film."
Both iterations of the film center on versions of Dirk Diggler, a young and comically well-endowed porn star, and his whirlwind career - a role nearly played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Boogie Nights, but which ended up going to Mark Wahlberg. The Dirk Diggler Story also features an ensemble of supporting characters that would later be fleshed out in Boogie Nights, including Diggler's dimwitted and lovable bodybuilder friend Reed Rothchild, and their seedy director boss Jack Horner (which garnered Burt Reynolds an Oscar nomination). The short film also features Diggler's chain-smoking female co-star Candy Kane, who was clearly adapted into Heather Graham's Rollergirl and Julianne Moore's Amber Waves in Boogie Nights.
In The Dirk Diggler Story, available to view on YouTube, Anderson creates a blueprint for Boogie Nights. This admirable amateur entry in Paul Thomas Anderson's stellar filmography was inspired in format and content by the 1981 documentary Exhausted, centered on the iconic 70s porn star John Holmes. Anderson's father Ernie contributed a steadycam and his voice for the narration, but 17-year-old Anderson himself drove the production process; he worked off a fastidious shot list and impressed on the cast the importance of taking their work very seriously, just as their characters would. Despite clocking in a full two hours shorter than Boogie Nights, The Dirk Diggler Story shares a very similar plot structure with its later adaptation. In fact, several scenes in Boogie Nights are taken nearly verbatim from the short film.
The Dirk Diggler Story neatly demonstrates Anderson's flair for deadpan satire and irresistible characters. The entire conceit of the film relies on Diggler as a fascinating caricature of a naive and narcissistic star (reflecting the varied reports of the personality of the real life John Holmes), and Anderson sticks the landing, paving the way for one of his masterpieces down the road. In the opening shots of the mockumentary, amidst a flurry of activity on the set of an adult film, Jack Horner flatly troubleshoots a shadow on Candy Kane's right breast, setting the tone for the offbeat spoof on the behind-the-scenes drudgery of adult films. The first time Diggler appears onscreen, wearing only a leopard-print Speedo and brandishing a flogger, he delivers stilted dialogue (including gems like "inadequate sexual behavior requires modification") that makes him an undeniably funny and likable character from the get-go. The humor in the short film is certainly puerile at times, but the absolute straight-faced conviction with which each punchline is delivered is a dazzling reminder of Anderson's later dark comedies.
The Boogie Nights soundtrack received critical acclaim, and Anderson demonstrates his keen ear for music in The Dirk Diggler Story with a masterfully funny use of Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were" played over a montage of Diggler and Rothchild after Diggler's untimely death. One of the most notable plot departures between the two films is that Boogie Nights seemingly ends on a more hopeful note, with Diggler making a triumphant return to the porn industry — though the film implies he is doomed to make the same mistakes again. Both endings share a darkly comedic tone, as in The Dirk Diggler Story, Anderson flashes a quote attributed to the Diggler to memorialize him: "All I ever wanted was a cool 78 'Vette and a house in the country."
Paul Thomas Anderson's wild success can be traced back directly to his work on The Dirk Diggler Story. He established himself as a capable filmmaker who had already developed a knack for insightful satire and unforgettable characters. In anticipation of the November release of Anderson's next film, Licorice Pizza, perhaps this compelling insight into the history of Anderson and Boogie Nights should be included in the analysis and appreciation of Anderson's oeuvre.