Before the bestselling books, the television success and the international recognition, Anthony Bourdain was simply Tony: a restless 19-year-old still working out who he wanted to become. Tony (released in Italy as Tony – Diario di un giovane cuoco) returns to the summer of 1975 in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and to a formative chapter that would begin to shape the man he later became.
Directed by Matt Johnson, the 106-minute film stars Dominic Sessa as the young Anthony Bourdain, alongside Antonio Banderas, Emilia Jones and Leo Woodall. Rather than covering Bourdain‘s entire life, it concentrates on a single short but transformative summer and on the people, relationships and experiences that began to shape him.
A Summer That Changes Everything
Another impulsive decision brings Tony to the coastal town of Provincetown, where he finds himself almost by accident inside the chaotic, adrenaline-fueled world of a local restaurant kitchen, washing dishes alongside an unruly brigade of cooks, rebels and drifters during his last summer before college.
At the center of that world is Chef, played by Antonio Banderas, the owner of a small seafood restaurant who takes Tony under his wing. Strict and uncompromising but capable of real warmth, Chef sees something in the young man before Tony sees it in himself, and understands that talent without discipline counts for nothing.
At the opposite end of Tony’s new world is Sal, played by Leo Woodall, a colleague who stands for temptation, excess and appetite. Nancy, played by Emilia Jones, is a young woman Tony knew in high school, at once his first love, his intellectual equal and an emotional mirror: she reads him quickly, sees the insecurity beneath the bravado and pushes back rather than reassures.
Rich Sommer and Dagmara Domińczyk play Tony’s parents, Pierre and Gladys, while Stavros Halkias, Michael Jibrin and Monica Raymund appear as colleagues in the restaurant kitchen.
Dominic Sessa Leads the Story
Johnson met Sessa shortly after seeing his performance in The Holdovers, and the two spent hours talking about their own upbringings, their families, their insecurities around masculinity and ambition, and the often painful passage from adolescence into adulthood. Those conversations became the emotional foundation of the film.
From there Johnson built the story around emotional recognition rather than public biography, and both director and actor were determined to avoid an impersonation of the Bourdain audiences already knew. Without even trying, Johnson says, Sessa was far closer to Bourdain at 18, 19 or 20 than to the famous writer and television star who came later: much of the performance, in his words, was already in Sessa’s DNA.
Across the summer, Tony swings between competing versions of himself — writer, intellectual, romantic, rebel, artist, dishwasher, son, lover — and much of the film’s tension comes from his attempt to present himself as fully formed while privately struggling with confusion and self-doubt. Johnson describes one of Tony‘s strategies as a version of fake it till you make it: the idea that you can lie about who you are and who you want to be. Sessa recognizes the impulse, describing how badly a young man wants to be respected and how readily he inflates himself to protect his ego.
Behind the Film
Tony is directed by Matt Johnson, who also shares screenplay credit with Todd Bartels, Lou Howe and Matt Miller. It is produced by Tim White, Trevor White, Matthew Miller and Matt Johnson, with Kimberly Witherspoon, Todd Bartels, Lou Howe, Emily Rose, Chris Stinson and Amy Greene serving as executive producers. It is a Star Thrower production for A24.
Behind the camera, Michael Bauman serves as director of photography, Ryan Warren Smith as production designer, Curt Lobb and Robert Upchurch as editors, Chloe Karmin as costume designer, and Jay McCarrol as composer.
In Italy, Tony is distributed by I Wonder Pictures as Tony – Diario di un giovane cuoco and arrives in cinemas on August 27, 2026.
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