Archive · 30 Aug 2026
Tony Reimagines Anthony Bourdain as a Lost Young Man
Tony is a film about Anthony Bourdain before he became famous.
It shows him as a 19-year-old who is clever but lost.
He lies to his parents after failing to get a writing fellowship at Vassar.
He travels to Provincetown, Massachusetts, hoping to reconnect with an old crush named Nancy.
When his money runs out, he gets a job washing dishes in a seafood restaurant.
The restaurant’s chef is strict and intimidating, but he sees promise in Tony.
Working in the kitchen teaches Tony how to pay attention to people and work hard.
Those lessons help him become the writer and observer he will eventually be.
Matt Johnson’s Tony focuses on Anthony Bourdain at age 19 during the summer of 1975.
After lying about a failed Vassar writing fellowship, Bourdain follows Nancy to Provincetown, Massachusetts.
A chance encounter leads him to a dishwashing job at a seafood restaurant.
Dominic Sessa portrays Bourdain as arrogant, aimless and still searching for his identity.
Antonio Banderas plays a demanding chef whose kitchen teaches Tony discipline, observation and empathy.
- Who
- The film follows 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain, played by Dominic Sessa, with Antonio Banderas portraying the chef who recognizes his potential.
- What
- Tony is a coming-of-age film about one formative summer before Bourdain became a chef, writer and television personality.
- When
- The story takes place during the summer of 1975.
- Where
- Much of the story unfolds in Provincetown, Massachusetts, particularly at a seafood restaurant.
- Why
- The film examines how kitchen work gives Bourdain discipline and helps him learn to observe, listen to and understand people.
- Film
- Tony
- Director
- Matt Johnson
- Main actor
- Dominic Sessa as Anthony Bourdain
- Setting
- Provincetown, Massachusetts
- Period
- Summer 1975
- Source inspiration
- The early chapters of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
- Restaurant mentor
- Antonio Banderas plays Chef