Dominic Sessa, 23, Leads 'Tony' as 19-Year-Old Anthony Bourdain

Q: Will romanticizing a hard-partying 1970s kitchen undermine Bourdain’s later crusade against the toxic restaurant culture he helped expose?

Not necessarily; it depends on whether “Tony” frames that 1970s kitchen as seductive but costly, rather than admirable in itself. The risk is real because Bourdain himself later said he had romanticized the macho, druggy, misogynistic restaurant culture in *Kitchen Confidential* and regretted helping validate what he called a “meathead bro” ethos. That matters here because the film is adapted from the book’s early chapters, the very material most associated with the myth of the outlaw kitchen. But the available reporting suggests Matt Johnson is trying to do something narrower and more careful. “Tony” is not a cradle-to-grave celebration of Bourdain’s legend; it is an origin story about a restless, insecure 19-year-old learning to respect craft, labor, and the people behind the line. The mentor character played by Antonio Banderas appears designed to emphasize discipline and pride in work, not just chaos and excess. Coverage also notes that the film presents Tony as vulnerable, dishonest at times, and hungry for approval, which undercuts pure glamorization. So the film will likely undermine Bourdain’s later critique only if audiences leave remembering the partying more than the formation of his ethics. If Johnson keeps the hard-living kitchen as context for Bourdain’s awakening—showing both its allure and its damage—the movie can coexist with, and even deepen, Bourdain’s later reckoning with toxic restaurant culture.

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 7

Sessa fronts "Tony" as a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain, with the film narrowing to his 1975 Provincetown summer of dishwashing, first love and discovering cooking.
Two chapters of "Kitchen Confidential" helped shape the role, while director Matt Johnson put Sessa in a working kitchen with Antonio Banderas, Leo Woodall and Stavros Halkias to make the intimidation feel real.
Sessa said he barely knew Bourdain before filming, then connected to the character through his own unruly Jersey Shore summers and the insecurity he sees in young men trying to act like adults.
The 23-year-old actor, who broke out in 2023's "The Holdovers," said "Tony" became a second career turning point, pushing him toward riskier choices on screen and off.