This is the season of biopics, and this one seems promising. Anthony Bourdain was one of the most iconic and influential celebrity chefs and authors who revolutionized the culinary industry. Dominic Sessa will be playing the role of the late chef, and his transformation is spot-on, so let’s unpack this!
Dominic Stressa unveiled as Anthony Bourdain in A24’s ‘Tony’
Variety released the first visual for A24’s biopic on Anthony Bourdain, named Tony. It shows Dominic Sessa donning the chef’s white attire as he poses with crossed arms.
It was in 2024 that the biopic for the late chef was announced. Bourdain influenced the culinary world through his travels, writings, and most importantly, his experiences with people.
He traveled throughout the world, and whenever he did so, he brought back those perspectives with him. The food industry as a whole reveres the late chef to this date for visibilizing and platforming some of the most underrated and underappreciated cuisines from across the globe.
Dominic Sessa was asked by Entertainment Tonight about the biopic being his upcoming project and how he truly felt about playing the role of Bourdain, to which he said, “I already finished filming the movie, and it was like, yeah, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I kind of got to an earlier point in his life. We shot a lot of the movie in Provincetown, where he spent a lot of time when he was younger, and so many people there, like, actually had you know, real experiences with him and connected with him, and they’re still there.”
“It was cool to learn that you know, he used cooking and his experience in restaurants to ultimately do the thing that he loved in the first place, and he created a perfect sort of synergy of those things, which made him such a specific and special person.” He added.
It is indeed true that Bourdain did not associate food and dining with the glitz and the glam; he viewed it as a means of storytelling. This is evidently true with his experiences with street food sellers and how he gravitated more towards the humble nature of food, as Sessa pointed out.
Tony is slated for release in August 2026.
