When people ask me what my favorite movie is, I often say, only half-joking, “Anything with Burt Reynolds in it.” The exception to that might be 2005’s The Dukes of Hazzard, co-starring Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott. While the movie might not be Reynolds’ best, the behind-the-scenes story told by director Jay Chandrasekhar, whose new movie Super Troopers 3 drops this week on the 2026 movie schedule, is pure, macho, Burt. And of course it involves a near fistfight.
Chandrasekhar sat down with Jay Mohr this week on Mohr’s podcast, Mohr Stories, and talked at length about the ‘70s and ‘80s superstar who was known for doing his own stunts. Reynolds, who played Boss Hog in the movie, didn’t really seem all that invested in the project, according to the director. In fact, Chandrasekhar is “pretty sure” the Boogie Nights star (another movie Reynolds hated) hadn’t even read the script when filming started. Things only got worse from there.
At one point, according to Chandrasekhar, Reynolds mockingly called the director “Orsen” and was just ornery for much of the filming. Finally, it almost came to blows. Chandrasekhar says:
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He was also punching the air by my face in between takes, like hard. I was like, ‘OK.’ I said to his assistant, I’m like, ‘Is Burt going to hit me?’ And he goes, ‘Well, I’ve seen it before. But the good news for you is his back is hurting from all the stunts he’s done, and he’s on painkillers.’
Adding that his Reynolds assistant assured the director Reynolds wasn’t going to strike him:
That’s what was going on; he was on major painkillers. And he goes, ‘So, normally, while he might hit you, he’s not going to hit you, because he doesn’t want to mess his back up. I’m like, ‘Oh, great.’
I’m not sure I would take solace in the fact that painkillers somewhat inebriated Reynolds, but Chandrasekhar stayed calm, explaining:
I’m prepped for him hitting me. I’ve been punched before. Turns out I can take a punch. So, I’m like, ‘I’m going to take him. I’m going to grab him by the lapels. I’m going to lay him down gently, not going to hit him. I need his face for the movie’
No punches were thrown in that moment, but the tension between the Smokey and the Bandit star and the director continued. Later in the story, Chandrasekhar adds that after a meeting in Reynolds’ trailer, which sounds like a scene straight out of the ambulance in The Cannonball Run, Reynolds gets an injection of painkillers from a nurse and makes it clear how he feels about Chandrasekhar. The director explains:
He looks at the producer guy from Warner Bros.; he goes, ‘I like you.’ And he looks at the guy from Texas, assistant director; he goes, ‘I like you too.’ And then he looks at the 19-year-old, goes, ‘I don’t know you.’ And then he looks at me, he goes, ‘But I don’t like you. You want to see a real movie?’ And he frisbees a DVD at me, and I catch it; it says ‘Burt Reynolds, why my back hurts.’ And he goes, ‘Get the fuck out of my trailer.’
They just don’t make movie stars like they used to.