Anthony Bourdain’s estate insist ‘Tony’ “is not a standard biopic”
The estate of the late Anthony Bourdain have issued a show of support for the new A24 biopic, Tony.
The first trailer for the forthcoming film arrived on May 5th. It stars The Holdovers’ Dominic Tessa as Bourdain, and depicts a pivotal moment in his life during the summer of 1975, when he worked at a Provincetown, Massachusetts restaurant, before his culinary career took off.
Tony, which also features Emilia Jones, Stavros Halkias, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Leo Woodall, Michael Jibrin, Caroline Portu, and Monica Raymund, is directed by Nirvana The Band’s Matt Johnson, with the full blessing of the Bourdain estate.
Explaining why it has their support, they said in a statement following the arrival of the trailer, “We chose to support Tony because it is not a standard biopic and doesn’t attempt to summarise a life.”
The estate of Bourdain continued, “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.”
They were also full of praise for the way that Johnson was able to bring Bourdain’s “complexity, his intellectual appetite and his conviction” to the screen, noting these were the “qualities that eventually took him around the globe and endeared him to so many.”
Bourdain’s estate ended by sharing their aims for Tony, “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.”
Bourdain sadly died in 2018 by suicide while filming his travel show Parts Unknown in France. He was aged just 61.
Tony is set to hit cinemas in August 2026, although a specific release date has not yet been revealed.
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