Anthony Bourdain’s Early Days in the Kitchen Comes to Life in ‘Tony’ Biopic Trailer

By Kory Grow

Kory Grow

Anthony Bourdain‘s 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential, turned him from a nobody chef into a superstar authority figure, thanks to his sardonic witticisms, the insider-y way he let readers in on culinary secrets (like how all restaurants reuse uneaten table bread), and his own struggles with addiction. Now those stories and more will serve as the basis for Tony, a biopic starring Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t) as Bourdain, due in August.

A trailer for the film shows Bourdain’s transformation from a recalcitrant writer-turned-kitchen hand, insisting to his coworkers that he can cook and write, into a chef with a vision. “We’re gonna start with this as a special,” Bourdain tells the head chef (Antonio Banderas) in one scene. “Every Friday, something fancy but not pretentious, something sexy, makes you wanna fuck, you know, something only you can do.” The head chef’s knowing smile says everything about Bourdain’s promise. In another scene, Bourdain says, “If anybody asks, I’m not a writer. I work in a kitchen.” But it’s obvious that’s not the whole story.

The trailer shows Bourdain’s maverick attitude, set to the punk rock of Television and Spoon’s ponderous “Wild.” It features Bourdain’s callow volatility, his hubris, and his drive, but it also suggests the film will capture the sex, drugs, and rock-dwelling crustaceans that made his legend (though Bourdain’s famous oyster metaphor doesn’t make it in the trailer) appealing to the producers of the TV shows that made him famous, No Reservations and Parts Unknown, on which he starred until his death by suicide in 2018.

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