Dominic Sessa trades writing for the kitchen in first trailer for Anthony Bourdain biopic, ‘Tony’
The first trailer for Tony, the new biopic charting the early life of Anthony Bourdain, has been released, starring Dominic Sessa in the lead role of the iconic chef.
The movie, being directed by Matt Johnson, is set to depict the pivotal course of Bourdain’s life as he abandoned his dream of becoming a writer to take on his calling in the kitchen, throughout one integral summer at a Provincetown, Massachusetts restaurant in 1975, two years before his culinary career took flight.
Sessa, the breakout star of The Holdovers, is seen grappling with his identity as Bourdain throughout the alteration of his path, causing destruction to previous relationships in his life while new ones begin.
Along this journey, he comes up against his love interest Nancy, played by Emilia Jones, his friend Dimitri, played by Stavros Halkias, and the inimitable restaurant owner Ciro, who first hires him, taken on by Oscar-nominated actor Antonio Banderas.
The rest of the cast for the A24 film is rounded out by Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Leo Woodall, Michael Jibrin, Caroline Portu, and Monica Raymund.
Development for Tony was first announced by Johnson in August 2024, with filming having concluded by a year later.
Speaking of the reasons he was attracted to Bourdain as a role, Sessa told ID in an interview late last year: “It’s a story about a young man who’s fucking up and figuring it out,” before adding, “That was incredibly relatable to me, and the main reason I wanted to do it.”
Although the film is garnering excitement among fans of the chef, it has also been in the eye of the animal rights organisation PETA, who offered to foot the bill for shooting the movie last April if the producers agreed to using only vegan food products on set.
Tony is set to hit cinemas in August 2026, although a specific release date has not yet been revealed.
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