Eric Ripert is in the frame because Dominic Sessa is playing a teenage Anthony Bourdain in Tony, the forthcoming A24 biopic. That choice puts a 23-year-old actor into one of the most watched literary-chef-television identities of the century, and it arrives before the film has reached release.
Dominic Sessa said he was offered big projects where he would be number one on the call sheet, but he was looking for a different path after his debut in The Holdovers. “I was offered these big projects where I’d be number one on the call sheet,” he said. “My priority was: Get on another set, surround yourself with as many great actors as you can, but don’t be the face of the project.”
Corner Bistro and A Cook’s Tour
In 2003, Anthony Bourdain sat at Corner Bistro on A Cook’s Tour and asked, “What is one looking for in bar food?” He answered himself with unusual specificity: “Well, you want it simple. You know, I don’t want a tower of foie gras with microgreens here. I want blood and grease on my fingers and chin. That’s what I want.” Tony is reaching back to that version of Bourdain, not the polished television figure many viewers associate with Parts Unknown.
That framing is what makes the project more than a standard biography. A film about Bourdain could have chased the later, fully formed public persona; instead, Tony is built around a younger version of him, which gives Sessa a narrower and more demanding lane. The performance has to suggest the future without copying the finished product.
Dominic Sessa at 23
Dominic Sessa is 23, and his career choice after The Holdovers helps explain why Tony is the right kind of next step. He said the priority was to get back on set and work alongside as many strong actors as possible, not to become the face of a project too soon. That makes the Bourdain role a calculated move: it keeps him visible, but not boxed into a one-man vehicle.
He also said he approached Tony with skepticism. “Generally, [there was] that skepticism of, this is a biopic about Anthony Bourdain,” he said. “I feel skeptical about it myself.” That hesitation is the useful part of the story, because it signals the film is asking for trust before it asks for an audience.
Tony faces scrutiny
“But for a lot of different reasons it felt like the right story to tell about the right person,” Sessa said. The line matters because it points to the movie’s central gamble: a familiar subject can still feel fresh if the film chooses the right slice of life, and Tony is betting on Bourdain’s teenage years rather than the version already fixed in memory.
The comparison point is clear enough. Bourdain once appeared on A Cook’s Tour with a cheeseburger in one hand and a frosty pint in the other; later, he became the kind of screen presence associated with Parts Unknown. Tony is trying to bridge those two impressions without flattening either one, and that is where the pressure sits. If it lands, Sessa gets the kind of role that turns a promising actor into a lead. If it misses, the film’s skepticism will have been earned before opening night.
