Anthony Bourdain Biopic Star Dominic Sessa Reveals the Surprising Truth He Learned About the Late Chef

Dominic Sessa expected to learn a lot about Anthony Bourdain while preparing to play the famous chef and writer in the upcoming biopic ‘Tony.’ What surprised him most, however, was discovering that Bourdain’s biggest dream was never simply about becoming a chef.

Sessa, who stars as a young Bourdain in the film, said he initially viewed the late culinary icon mainly through his television career. In an interview with E! News alongside co-star Stavros Halkias and director Matt Johnson, Sessa explained that he did not fully understand how much Bourdain valued writing before becoming a household name.

“I didn’t realize that, early on, his focus was writing and he really had a passion for that,” Sessa told E! News. “That was the thing that he saw himself doing and believed was his destiny.”

The actor added that Bourdain’s years working in kitchens were still an important part of his journey because those experiences shaped the writer he eventually became.

“Ultimately [it] was,” Sessa said about writing being Bourdain’s true calling, “but it wasn’t possible unless he had the experience he had in the kitchen and those years of his life as a chef and in New York and before that.”

Bourdain became one of the most recognizable food personalities in the world, but his path was far from traditional. Before becoming a bestselling author and television host, he spent years working in restaurants and eventually turned those experiences into his famous 2000 memoir ‘Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.’

The new film takes a different approach by focusing on a much younger version of Bourdain. Instead of covering his entire career, director Matt Johnson wanted to explore the period before fame changed his life.

Speaking with E! News, Johnson explained that the creative team wanted to understand the person Bourdain was before becoming an international figure.

“We thought we could understand what it was like to be a young, struggling kid attempting to become Anthony Bourdain,” Johnson said. “So that’s why it’s this summer and nothing else.”

The movie follows a 19-year-old Bourdain during a summer working in Provincetown, Massachusetts, showing the early experiences that helped shape his future career.

For co-star Stavros Halkias, the project also became a personal experience. Halkias plays a mentor figure in the film and said taking on that role changed how he viewed his own place in life and his career.

“It was fun to realize, ‘Hey man, you’re not a kid anymore. You’re being cast to be the guy who helps the kid,’” Halkias told E! News. “So stop thinking about yourself as a kid. You’re a grown man, grow up, for God’s sake.”

Halkias added that the role arrived during a time when he was already thinking about his own growth and direction.

“It really helped me to sort of rethink where I am and my own relationship to my work,” he said. “And how I relate to other people.”

‘Tony’ arrives as another look at the complicated life of Bourdain, who died by suicide in 2018 at the age of 61. While many fans remember him for his travel shows and fearless approach to food, the new film focuses on the young man searching for his identity before he became a global icon.

‘Tony’ opens in limited theaters on August 7 before expanding nationwide on August 21.

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