* ActingInTheDark: According to Creator/WilliamHMacy, the scene where Dirk Diggler wins the Golden Phallus Award was filmed with about one hundred extras, who had shown up in their own 1970s clothes. They weren't told what kind of movie they were in, only that it was a film featuring Creator/BurtReynolds. The crowd was told to applaud after Melora Walters had announced Diggler as the winner. However, after Walters added some explicit sexual profanity to her line, there was a stunned silence. Subsequently, about half of the extras got up and left the set, not to return again. This caused some delay in filming, in order to reassemble another crowd of extras, so when they finally resumed filming, Creator/PaulThomasAnderson took great care to explain to the new crowd what they were in for.
* AllStarCast: Creator/MarkWahlberg, Creator/BurtReynolds, Creator/JulianneMoore, Creator/HeatherGraham, Creator/DonCheadle, Creator/JohnCReilly, Creator/WilliamHMacy, and Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman.
* BannedInChina: The movie was banned in South Korea until 1999.
* BreakthroughHit: For Creator/PaulThomasAnderson
* CareerResurrection: For Creator/BurtReynolds, though he did not capitalize on it due to not getting along with Paul Thomas Anderson and not liking the film. Since it had been about twenty years since his last hit film and he'd been forced to declare bankruptcy due to a very messy divorce and some bad investments, he squandered a golden opportunity.
* TheCastShowoff: Melora Walters, who plays Jessie, is also a painter in real life.
* CastTheExpert:
** Several RealLife porn performers had [[TheCameo cameos]]. Nina Hartley appeared in several scenes as Little Bill's faithless wife. Veronica Hart is the judge at Amber Waves' custody hearing. More recent porn star Lil' Cinderella (credited as Amber Hunter) plays the Colonel's 'lady friend' who OD's at Jack's party, and Lexi Leigh plays one of Floyd's amateur porn stars. Summer Cummings and Skye Blue share a Jacuzzi.
** In a non-porn related example, Reed Rothchild shows off his magic skills to Kurt, who seems less than impressed. Kurt is played by Ricky Jay, a professional magician.
* CastTheRunnerUp: Laurel Holloman screentested for the role of Roller Girl before being cast as Sheryl Lynn.
* CompletelyDifferentTitle: in Latin America the film is named ''Juegos de Placer'' (lit. Pleasure Games or Games of Pleasure).
* CreatorBacklash:
** Believe it or not, Creator/BurtReynolds viewed the film as this. After seeing a rough cut of the film, Reynolds fired his agent for recommending it and refused to ever work with Creator/PaulThomasAnderson again.
** Averted for Mark Wahlberg; he doesn't regret making the film (it was a breakthrough for him as an actor), but he admits that he would never accept a role like this again. One reason is [[http://ew.com/movies/2017/10/24/mark-wahlberg-boogie-nights-forgiveness/ his Catholic guilt,]] and the other is because [[http://www.indiewire.com/2017/11/mark-wahlberg-boogie-nights-explains-god-forgiveness-dirk-diggler-1201894672/ he's now a father of two children.]]
* TheDanza: Creator/WilliamHMacy as Little Bill.
* DeletedScene: Some smaller sub-plots not included in the DVD were filmed for the movie, but didn't make it to the final version, or DVD deleted scenes. They are:
** A small sub-plot in which Maurice bugs Rollergirl throughout the film for nude pictures of her. He sends the pictures back to his brothers in Puerto Rico. This ties in with the deleted scene between him and Rollergirl.
** A scene in which Rahad runs back to the house after chasing Dirk and Reed with the gun. Cosmo has been shot, and is dead. Helicopters circle, and he is actually happy he gets to use his firepower. He exchanges shots with cops, and ultimately dies in the confrontation.
** Becky Barnett's husband [[DomesticAbuse abuses her shortly after they are married]], and she calls Dirk over to help her. He wrecks his car in the way, which explains the damage to his car seen in the movie. This subplot was removed after the director felt that seeing ''all'' of the characters have horrible lives [[TooBleakStoppedCaring would have been too depressing]].
* HeyItsThatSound: Dirk Diggler, getting his singing career going, sings "The Touch". [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie Yes, THAT "The Touch".]] It's [[HilariousInHindsight even funnier now]], as his actor, Mark Wahlberg, would go on to star in two of the [[Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction franchise's]] [[Film/TransformersTheLastKnight live-action]] installments.
* HostilityOnTheSet: Creator/BurtReynolds didn't make many friends onset. At one point, he threw a punch at Creator/PaulThomasAnderson, because he felt that the director was disrespecting him. The film's First Assistant Director, John Wildermuth, tells this story: "Burt got so frustrated he pulled Paul outside into the backyard and started yelling at him, like a father, you know? 'You f--kin' little punk kid, don't tell me what to do.'" Tom Lenk added, "All of a sudden we saw fists flying. We saw some fists flying from Burt Reynolds. I hope I don't get in trouble for saying this, but it was like he was trying to punch our director in the face." Reynolds was also involved in a heated scuffle with Creator/ThomasJane. In the DVDCommentary, Anderson and Creator/MarkWahlberg imply that Reynolds was on drugs during filming.
* IronyAsSheIsCast: Adult film star Veronica Hart as the judge in Amber's custody case. Also, rocker John Doe (of Los Angeles punk legends X) as Amber's straight-laced ex-husband, Tom.
* OrphanedReference: In a deleted scene, Dirk Diggler crashes his Corvette into a telephone booth. The scene was deleted because of time, but the car still remains wrecked when Dirk visits Rahad Jackson's house, drives away, and drives back to Jack's house. When Dirk and Reed are conspiring to rob Rahad's house, Dirk says, "That'll be enough to get the 'Vette fixed."
* RealitySubtext: Regarding the devastating scene between Eddie Adams and his angry mother, Joanna Gleason asked Creator/PaulThomasAnderson if the material reflected the relationship between him and his own mother. Anderson became very quiet and did not answer the question. Gleason then told Anderson "You don't have to forgive her."
* StarMakingRole: Creator/MarkWahlberg's acting career took off after playing the role of Dirk Diggler.
* ThrowItIn:
** The {{Angrish}} example mentioned on the main page was a typo by Anderson that he decided to leave.
** The joke at the end of the film with the misspelling of "Rodriguez" on the sign was a result of PT Anderson's typo which rendered it "Rodriquez".
** Little Bill's line as written was "I'm a little distracted. There's a guy with his dick in my wife's ass." On the second take, William H. Macy said "My fucking wife has an ass in her cock." Paul Thomas Anderson made him do a couple more takes, but then ended up using the second take with the garbled line, which Macy considered to be a sign of his genius.
** Laurel Holloman as Sheryl Lynn ad-libbed the line "Your cock is so beautiful", which pleased Paul Thomas Anderson so much that he hugged her.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/BenAffleck, Creator/ChristianBale, Creator/MattDamon, Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio[[note]]He did ''Film/Titanic1997'' instead[[/note]], Creator/StephenDorff, Creator/EthanHawke, Creator/JasonLee and Creator/JoaquinPhoenix[[note]]He refused to play a porn star[[/note]] were originally offered the part of Dirk Diggler.
** Creator/GwynethPaltrow was offered the part of Rollergirl. Creator/DrewBarrymore and Creator/TatumONeal were also up for the role.
** Creator/WarrenBeatty, Creator/AlbertBrooks, Creator/HarveyKeitel, Creator/BillMurray, Creator/JackNicholson and Creator/SydneyPollack, were offered the part of Jack Horner.
** Creator/SamuelLJackson was offered the part of Buck Swope.
** Creator/MarisaTomei was offered the part of Amber Waves.
** Creator/JackBlack was considered for the role of Scotty J.
** Creator/JohnTurturro and Creator/SeanPenn turned down the role of Rahad Jackson.
** While Anderson intended to cast Melora Walters as Jessie St. Vincent, the studio wanted a bigger name for the part. He offered the role to Creator/PatriciaArquette, knowing she would decline, and the role ultimately went to Walters.
** The notorious murder-suicide scene was originally intended to be much more violent and graphic than what was shown.
** A scene was shot where Dirk's parents are shown being killed in a car crash, but it ended up being cut.

----