Anthony Bourdain’s turbulent early life is explored in a gripping new trailer for the feature film “Tony.”
Dominic Sessa plays the iconic chef and travel personality in his younger years. The film zeroes in on Bourdain’s early days in the kitchen and the formative experiences that set him on a path that would make him a household name and take him around the world in search of unique culinary experiences.
‘Tony’ Focuses on Anthony Bourdain’s Early Years Before Superstardom
Director Matt Johnson takes a deep dive into Bourdain’s experiences in 1976, when he was living in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and working in a series of restaurants to make ends meet. According to the film, Bourdain’s life took a turn after he was passed over for a writing fellowship program.
Subsequently, the future chef is seen in a series of scenes where he appears to have no direction. He headed to Massachusetts in the early ’70s, right out of high school, looking for a job.
Bourdain meets Brazilian-born restaurateur Ciro (Antonio Banderas) him under his wing, giving him a job as a dishwasher. However, in the clip, the young soon-to-be chef has no direction, preferring to party all night and not be responsible in his new place of employment.
However, Ciro sees something in Bourdain and shows him the ropes in the kitchen. He eventually presents him with his first set of chef’s whites.
Fans were quick to add their comments to the post. Many flooded the replies with reactions, sharing their excitement and weighing in on the moment.
“Exactly the way ‘Kitchen Confidential’ looked while reading it,” wrote one Instagram user. “No matter what anybody says, considering Dominic [Sessa] in the lead role and Matt [Johnson] in the director’s chair, I have faith,” noted a second follower.
A third viewer wrote, “This is going to be epic.” “‘Kitchen Confidential’ comes alive,” penned a fourth fan.
Anthony Bourdain Said Living and Working in Provincetown was ‘Paradise’
Anthony Bourdain wrote “field notes” for an episode dedicated to Cape Cod in an episode of his CNN series Parts Unknown. There, he recalled those early years as an apprentice chef.
“It was here, all the way out at the tip of Cape Cod—Provincetown, Massachusetts—where the pilgrims first landed, and it was where I first landed,” he began. “It was 1972, and I washed into a town with a headful of orange sunshine and a few friends. Provincetown was a wonderland of tolerance with a longtime tradition of accepting artists, writers, the badly behaved, and the different. It was paradise.”
He told The Boston Globe Magazine in 2012, “I was sharing a house in Provincetown one summer with a bunch of friends from high school. I was not contributing to the rent, and everybody I was living with was working in seasonal jobs at restaurants either as cooks or floor staff.”
“One night they just said, we need a dishwasher, and it’s going to be you, since you are not contributing to the rent. So I got started as a dishwasher and fell in love with the whole business and the whole subculture.”
Anthony Bourdain passed on June 8, 2018. He was 61.
“Tony” hits theaters this August.
