Through hours upon hours of television and tomes of writing, Anthony Bourdain has had a unique impact on our culture and its relationship with food. His absence has continued to be felt ever since his tragic passing in 2018, but now his spirit is carrying over into a new biopic.
On Tuesday, A24 released the first teaser trailer for Tony, their upcoming biopic about the early years of Bourdain’s career in the restaurant industry. The trailer showcases plenty of 1970s vibes and a pretty inspired performance by The Holdovers star Dominic Sessa as the young version of Bourdain.
Tony is set in 1976, and centers around a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain who wants to be a writer but takes a summer job at a Cape Cod restaurant, learning under the tutelage of a Brazilian-born restaurateur. The film is directed by Matt Johnson, the co-creator and co-star of the mockumentary franchise Nirvana the Band the Show, and co-written by Todd Bartels and Lou Howe.
Tony also stars Emilia Jones as Nancy, Tony’s love-interest Emilia Jones as Tony’s love interest Nancy, Rich Sommer as Pierre Bourdain, Stavros Halkias as Dimitri, Leo Woodall as Sal, Antonio Banderas as Ciro, Michael Jibrin as Tyrone, Caroline Portu as Robin, Monica Raymund as Mary, and Dagmara Domińczyk in a currently-unknown role.
Does Anthony Bourdain’s Estate Approve of Tony?
Movies about Bourdain’s life have already had a complicated legacy, after the 2021 documentary Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain was revealed to have used artificial intelligence to recreate Bourdain’s voice, in order to have it “recite” his writings at three separate points in the film. The project’s director, Morgan Neville, dismissed the idea of a controversy at the time, saying “we can have a documentary-ethics panel about it later.” Ottavia Busia, Bourdain’s ex-wife and executor of his estate, also revealed that she had not been consulted on the AI use, revealing on social media that: “I certainly was NOT the one who said Tony would have been cool with that.”
By contrast, the Bourdain estate has already given its proverbial stamp of approval to Tony, releasing a statement on Tuesday shortly after the trailer made its debut.
“Anthony Bourdain’s legacy is meaningful to millions of people,” the statement reads. He was a man who valued authenticity above all else and would have been both moved and baffled by the world’s curiosity about his life. We chose to support Tony because it is not a standard biopic and doesn’t attempt to summarize a life. Guided by the vision of director Matt Johnson, the film depicts one transformative summer in 1975 in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is an interpretation as that part of Tony’s life will always remain somewhat unknown. 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.”
Tony is set to be released exclusively in theaters this August.
(featured image: A24)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
