In the 20th year since its UK release, Fletcher is joined by comedian and Paul Thomas Anderson fan Aidan McCaffery to discuss perhaps the best Hollywood film of the ’90s, Boogie Nights.

Twenty minutes after turning off the mic, word reached us that Kurt Longjohn himself, the greatest sleight of hand magician in the world, Ricky Jay, had passed away aged 72. In my two decades as a cineaste, Jay’s been an ever-present – first, at home, with stacks of tapes, watching and rewatching him in back-to-back pictures with Paul Thomas Anderson and, as part of David Mamet’s repertory, turns in Homicide, Heist, House of Games. Soon, out at the flicks, Mystery Men and, of all things, Heartbreakers. Later, there was Gus van Sant’s Last Days and, of course, a cameo in the best film Kit Nolan’s ever made, The Prestige. Jay even has an episode of The X-Files devoted to him.

Enjoy the issue, and raise a glass to Ricky and a life well-lived.

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