The Dirk Diggler Story (1988)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

A mockumentary short film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson at age seventeen. Presented as a behind-the-scenes television profile, it chronicles the rise and fall of Dirk Diggler, a well-endowed porn star whose fame and fortune spiral into drug abuse and tragedy. Modeled on real-life adult film actor John Holmes, the film serves as an early prototype for Anderson’s later feature Boogie Nights (1997).

Cast

Michael Stein

Dirk Diggler

Robert Ridgely

Jack Horner

Eddie Delcore

Reed Rothchild

Rusty Schwimmer

Candy Kane

Ernie Anderson

Narrator (uncredited)