Dominic Sessa Brings Anthony Bourdain to A24’s Tony Trailer

A24 released the first Tony trailer on May 5, and anthony bourdain is being played by Dominic Sessa at 19. The film does not try to cover the whole life; it narrows in on one summer in 1975, which gives the project a different shape from a standard biopic.

That summer setting matters because the movie follows Bourdain as a college student who goes to Provincetown, Massachusetts after being rejected from a writing fellowship, then lands in a seafood restaurant. The estate backed that approach with three pointed lines: “We chose to support ‘Tony,’ because it is not a standard biopic and doesn’t attempt to summarize a life.”

Matt Johnson and Provincetown

Directed by Matt Johnson, the film centers on a 19-year-old Bourdain before he became known as a chef, memoirist, or TV host. In the estate’s words, “Guided by the vision of director Matt Johnson, the film depicts one transformative summer in 1975 in Provincetown, Massachusetts.”

The cast also includes Antonio Bandereas as the harsh but brilliant head chef who mentors him, along with Emilia Jones, Dagmara Domińczyk, Rich Sommer, Stavros Halkias, and Leo Woodall. That ensemble suggests the trailer is selling a world around Bourdain, not just a single impersonation.

One Summer, Not a Lifetime

The unusual part is the framing. Instead of a cradle-to-casket outline, Tony stays with the part of Tony’s life the estate says “will always remain somewhat unknown.” That line closes the door on a familiar biopic formula and gives the film room to treat the early period as interpretation rather than historical shorthand.

This is the practical takeaway for viewers: the trailer says the movie is not built as an origin-story checklist, and that makes the performances and period detail the main sales pitch. A24 will release Tony in theaters this August, so the next real test is whether audiences buy a portrait that deliberately leaves most of Bourdain offscreen.