We’ve been ambivalent about the idea of an Anthony Bourdain biopic ever since we heard that A24 was scouting locations for Tony in Provincetown last spring/summer, and that hasn’t really changed in the past year. No one can really do him much justice on screen — just look at what happened to Roadrunner a few summers ago — because they’re competing with endlessly entertaining reruns of No Reservations (the CNN show wasn’t as good, because at that point Bourdain had become “important”) and the struggle of translating his inimitable writing style to a narrative feature. Moreover, it feels like the dude would have just straight-up put a hex on the production from beyond the grave the minute they started shooting.
However, the fact that no crazy catastrophe happened on set is a good sign. One can’t imagine that Bourdain would have complained much about Matt Johnson — he of Blackberry and Nirvana The Band The Show fame — being hired to direct, since he can tackle seemingly impossible projects. Nor would he have had much trouble with leading man Dominic Serra, who you may remember from Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, who captures the raw shit-kicker attitude Bourdain portrayed in Kitchen Confidential just in a single glare.
All in all, who the hell knows how this’ll turn out. All that we know for sure is that the trailer A24 dropped earlier on Tuesday is pretty compelling, and a nice reminder that Provincetown is pretty gorgeous at this time of year.
Take a look:
Here’s a synopsis for Tony:
“A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life.”
Tony hits theaters in August, and it’s kind of weird that A24 doesn’t already have a firmer date locked in for this. Seriously, the dude graces all kinds of prayer candles and mugs and shit, and they’ve plunked this thing in August without a date? Shouldn’t this be an event picture?