Heather Graham on why she went on boogie nights after avoiding sexual content

Heather Graham remembers stepping out of her comfort zone to take on her role in the 1997s Boogie nights.

The actress, who plays Rollergirl in Paul Thomas Anderson’s adult industry drama, recently said at the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum Podcast that she initially avoided projects with sexual content.

“I grew up in a religious family and they said, ‘Don’t do anything sexual,'” Graham explained. “But try being a woman in Hollywood in your early 20s or mid-20s and then trying not to get roles with sexual content – it’s almost impossible.”

The Austin Powers: The Spy Who Fucked Me The star ultimately decided to go against her family’s wishes and not limit her opportunities in Hollywood.

“I had turned down a few things with sexual content, and then I saw other people who had really good careers,” she remembers. “I just said, ‘Fuck it. I want to do that. The [Boogie Nights] The script is great.’”

While “they originally offered this role to someone really famous who turned it down,” Graham said she eventually got the role, which marked a “turning point in my career.” (Gwyneth Paltrow previously told Howard Stern that she turned down the role of Rollergirl.)

Since Graham wasn’t used to doing nude scenes at the time, host Michael Rosenbaum also asked her what that first experience was like. “It was terrifying,” she replied. “As a woman, I have to say, even if you say, ‘Okay. “Well, maybe I know that men find me attractive sometimes,” considering all the flaws. You say, ‘Oh my God. You will see these defects.’ I remember just sitting in my trailer and thinking, ‘Oh my God. I’m so scared.'”

But as soon as the Chosen family Once the actress got into her character’s mindset, she found the courage to go out and give her best performance in the film opposite Mark Wahlberg and Julianne Moore.

“You just try to get out of your own head and ask yourself, ‘What is the character thinking?’ “I’m just going to be this character,” she remembers. “I don’t want to say, ‘Heather Graham is nervous at this moment.’ I want it to be like, “In this scene, I’m Brandy and this is what I’m doing.” Oh, it’s no big deal and these people are my friends and my family. This is part of our lives.’ I just tried to think about how the character would feel about it.”

Overall, Graham had a positive experience making the film. She added: “My role was so much fun, I had such a great time.”