Archive · 24 Aug 2026
How Matt Johnson’s Tony Reimagines Anthony Bourdain’s Transformative Summer
Tony is a movie about Anthony Bourdain when he was 19 years old.
It shows him working in a busy seafood restaurant during the summer of 1975.
That job helped him discover the world of cooking.
The movie does not tell every part of Bourdain’s life.
Instead, it focuses on one important summer.
Matt Johnson directed the film and helped write its script.
Dominic Sessa plays the young Bourdain, while Antonio Banderas has a supporting role.
Many critics like the movie, and audiences have helped it become a box-office success.
The story is loosely based on Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential.
Matt Johnson’s Tony follows 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain during a pivotal 1975 summer in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Bourdain’s chaotic seafood-restaurant job is portrayed as the experience that set his career path.
The film expanded from six opening theaters to 1,642 nationwide and earned an estimated $5 million over the weekend.
Tony has grossed $6.6 million through its third week after opening with $349,000 in New York and Los Angeles.
Critics have praised the film, especially Antonio Banderas, and its focus on mentorship rather than Bourdain’s entire life.
- Who
- The film was directed by Matt Johnson and stars Dominic Sessa as young Anthony Bourdain, with Antonio Banderas and others in supporting roles.
- What
- Tony is a biopic focused on Bourdain’s formative summer working in a restaurant kitchen.
- When
- The story takes place in the summer of 1975; the film opened on August 7 and reached its third week in theaters.
- Where
- The story is set in Provincetown, Massachusetts, while the film opened in New York and Los Angeles before expanding nationwide.
- Why
- The film portrays the restaurant job as a transformative experience that shaped Bourdain’s later career.
- Director
- Matt Johnson
- Lead actor
- Dominic Sessa as young Anthony Bourdain
- Setting
- Provincetown, Massachusetts, during the summer of 1975
- Opening date
- August 7
- Theater expansion
- From six theaters to 1,642 theaters
- Weekend gross
- Estimated $5 million
- Third-week total
- $6.6 million
- Source material
- Loosely based on passages from Kitchen Confidential