Tony trailer: Anthony Bourdain biopic to explore his origin story focused on one youthful summer
The late chef, writer and presenter Anthony Bourdain’s youthful summer in his first kitchen will be dramatised in an upcoming biopic.
We’ve all become far too familiar with the celebrity biopic that have either been approved by the subject or their estates.
But if anyone’s life is going to get a more honest treatment, surely it will have to be Anthony Bourdain.
The late chef, writer and presenter, who died from suicide in 2018, was known for his frankness about his demons, and openly addressed the darker aspects of his behaviour and his past through his work. To sanitise it would be anathema to how he lived.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The film is called Tony, and it’s due for release later this year. Set during a very specific moment in his life, it takes its cues from the summer Bourdain spent working in a restaurant in Provincetown, Massachusetts in the 1970s.
It was his first experience in a professional kitchen, and he worked there as a dishwasher. It was a period of life that wrote about it in Kitchen Confidential (in the book, it was called The Dreadnaught but it reality its name was Flagship) and also revisited during an episode of Parts Unknown.
But his estate said it was a part of Bourdain’s life that will “always remain somewhat unknown”.
The estate released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter that it decided to support the film because it wasn’t attempting to summarise Bourdain’s life.
“We appreciate the portrayal of Tony’s complexity, his intellectual appetite and his conviction, qualities that eventually took him around the globe and endeared him to so many.
“We hope this film serves as a reminder that every journey has a start, and that audiences see the beginnings of the man who taught us how to be better explorers on our own paths.”
Dominic Sessa, the breakout star from The Holdovers, will portray the young Bourdain, while the rest of the cast includes Antonio Banderas, as the chef who owns the restaurant, Leo Woodall, Emilia Jones, Dagmara Dominczyk, Rich Sommer and Stavros Halkias.
Tony is directed by Matt Johnson, a Canadian filmmaker and actor who made the BlackBerry origin story movie and, more recently, the wildly entertaining time travel comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.
Bourdain published his first book, Bone in the Throat, in 1995 but it was his 2000 tome, Kitchen Confidential, that really drew attention.
Part memoir, part gonzo journalism, Kitchen Confidential was a bracing and honest account of the big personalities, the pressure and the chaos of working in high-end restaurants.
Throughout its pages, Bourdain details his own personal actions, and is candid about drug use and bad behaviour. He wasn’t the first person to write so honestly about the industry, but he did it in a way that took you along with him.
It was his authenticity and willingness to be open about his flaws that made Bourdain such an intriguing public figure.
That also bolstered his credibility as someone who was genuinely curious about different cultures, experiences and stories because he approached it from a place of being with people and not above or apart from them.
Bourdain was a prolific writer and after the success of Kitchen Confidential, he launched his first TV series, A Cook’s Tour followed by No Reservations, The Layover and Parts Unknown.
He was as comfortable sitting on a plastic stool in a backlane joint as he was in a three Michelin-starred salon. What mattered was the food and the people behind each morsel.
He won awards and acclaim for his work, and recruited notable guests including Barack Obama, Bill Murray, Sean Penn and his friend, chef Eric Ripert.
No Reservations was lauded for Bourdain’s playful hosting, and when he shifted into Parts Unknown, the series became more than a travelogue, and often meshed more serious themes into each episode.
Kitchen Confidential was adapted into a largely forgotten TV sitcom in 2005, starring Bradley Cooper, John Francis Daley and Nicholas Brendon. It was cancelled after one season.
After his death, filmmaker Morgan Neville released in 2021 the documentary Roadrunner, which spanned his life and career.
If you or anyone you know needs help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14
