While the film industry does demand a lot from the actors who dedicate their lives to the art of filmmaking, it also tends to ask them to go to extremes sometimes to truly bring a tale to life. While Mark Wahlberg is a toughened veteran in the business, Heather Graham was just starting out in the industry when she had to face one of the aforementioned extreme situations.

Heather Graham
The experience in the conversation here is from the late 1990s when Graham was just starting to branch out into the world of cinema and making a name for herself. It was then that she accepted one of the most prominent roles of her career, which happened to be the role of a p*rnstar in the 1997 film titled Boogie Nights.

Heather Graham Was Terrified To Shoot Naked With Mark Wahlberg

Heather Graham and Mark Wahlberg in a still from Boogie Nights
It was the 1990s, a decade that was filled with many classics that would come to be remembered fondly for years to come. Among those films, Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 superhit Boogie Nights also made an impact on the audience. The film was a commercial success with a box office collection of $43.1 Million with an equally impressive critical review. But to reach that reputation, lead actress Heather Graham had to go through some terrifying things during the shooting process.

During her recent interview with Yahoo!, the Drugstore Cowboy star revealed that during the start of her career, she had to star in a nude scene alongside her co-star Mark Wahlberg in the Anderson-directed film. Since this was her first time shooting completely naked, the pressure and fear were constant and unrelenting. But still, she did the scene but remembered that it was still a little uneven, considering Wahlberg wasn’t completely in his birthday suit. She said:

“He’s wearing a fake penis so it’s not exactly the same, That was my first time [doing a nude scene], and I was so nervous about it. But at that point in my career I was also like, ‘Beggars can’t be choosers.’ It was a great script and Paul was an amazing talent. I had a great time making that movie even though it was terrifying doing a nude scene.”

Despite her fear, she steeled her nerves and performed as the script wanted to, which helped her and the film to reach the heights of success.

What Made Boogie Nights Such A Hit?

The cast and crew of Boogie Nights
Considering the beautiful past of P*rno films from the 1970s, when they were more of an artistic expression of the director rather than short and simple visual pleasure projects, the story of Boogie Nights revolves around the time when the transition was happening in the industry. What makes this film different and engaging is the fact that this shows the shadow world of the adult industry in the rightful way, which is in the form of a genuine business rather than something dirty and taboo, changing the perspective of the audience.

Boogie Nights, now streaming on HBO Max.