Dominic Sessa Might Make You Cry in the 'Tony' Trailer

My first reaction to hearing A24 was producing an Anthony Bourdain biopic was positive, in that I was positive it was not something Tony would have wanted. He was not a main character, and spent most of his career as a celebrity reminding his fans that he was just a guy from the kitchen. While he shared some stories about his childhood and life before fame found him, he was mostly concerned with showing us the world.

But Tony’s life and death proved something to a lot of us. We never really know, do we? We don’t know what’s going on behind the public façade. It was easy to develop a parasocial relationship with Tony because he spoke to us directly and talked like one of us. He wasn’t reciting lines from a script someone else wrote for a character. He was just himself. Or, at least, a version of himself that a lot of us connected with from the moment we opened his book and started reading.

I don’t know if Tony knew what was going to happen after he first appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote Kitchen Confidential in 2001. I was working at TOWS at the time, and I remember him being very unsure of himself as he came out onto that stage. He had no television presence yet, just a book to promote. And, against all odds, the Queen of Daytime TV wanted to help him promote it. It’s the sort of thing that changes your life in an instant for better or worse. We, the public, definitely got the better part. Tony was a great storyteller, and he shaped his life into a great story.

I’m still not sure we need a Bourdain biopic. Having seen the trailer, I think he would have gotten a real kick out of it though. I think he might feel like they’re taking his life entirely too seriously. But I also think he would appreciate Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) in this role. He’s got the hair for it, ya know?

The cast of Tony also includes Amilia Jones (CODA), Dagmara Dominczyk (Black Rabbit), Rich Sommers (Mad Men), Stavros Halkias (Bugonia), Leo Woodall (Vladimir) and Antonio Banderas.

The Chef and his motley crew of misfits, pirates, and mercenaries will be in theaters this August.