Tony, directed by Matt Johnson, is expected to go into production soon.
The Holdovers star Dominic Sessa is in talks to star as Anthony Bourdain in a new biopic from filmmaker Matt Johnson. Sessa, who has become one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood this year, is set to star in Tony, which hails from Star Thrower Entertainment. The exact details of the story — such as what period of Bourdain’s life will be covered in the movie — are still up in the air, but the movie comes from Star Thrower producers Tim and Trevor White, as well as Matt Miller. Johnson will direct from a screenplay by Lou Howe and Todd Bartels, with Emily Rose on board as executive producer.
Deadline, who first reported the talks, also say that A24 — the production house behind the biopic Priscilla — is in talks to acquire the film for distribution. Star Thrower previously produced the Oscar-winning biopic King Richard, and Johnson’s last movie was Blackberry.
Bourdain became a local celebrity in Manhattan after working in several restaurants in the 1980s and 1990s, but rose to first with a New Yorker essay about the grimy underbelly of New York restaurants, and later with his book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. His blunt, sardonic tone helped make him a media darling, and soon, he started to work in television.
Bourdain started with A Cook’s Tour, which ran for 35 episodes on the Food Network. In 2005, he began hosting the Travel Channel’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012), which became his signature series and catapulted him into the public consciousness. After that series ended, he continued at Travel Channel with The Layover (2011–2013) before moving to CNN to host Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. All of these series blended food and travel, exposing many Americans in his audience to new cultures and new foods that were not otherwise part of the American experience. Along the way, he wrote several books on food, cooking, and travel, including the Get Jiro! graphic novels, which are currently being developed as a series for Adult Swim.
Bourdain died in 2018.
Besides The Holdovers — a movie for which both Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph nabbed Oscar nominations (and Da’Vine won) — Sessa is an unknown quantity to most moviegoers. His upcoming projects include the Rose Byrne film Tow (from former Veep director Stephanie Laing), Michael Showalter’s Oh. What. Fun., and Now You See Me 3.
