Dominic Sessa in Talks to Play Anthony Bourdain in a Biopic for A24
“BlackBerry” director and co-writer Matt Johnson is said to be circling the project, which is based on a screenplay by Todd Bartels and Lou Howe.
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Dominic Sessa is about to have No Reservations.
What do you get when you mix the breakout star of The Holdovers, BlackBerry director and co-writer Matt Johnson, and the iconoclastic studio A24? The answer, according to multiple reports on Monday, is Tony—a biopic about the life of celebrity chef and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain.
Sessa and Johnson are in talks to star and direct in the project, respectively, Deadline and Variety reported. According to The Hollywood Reporter, both are already attached, but sources told IndieWire that no deals had been cemented as of Monday night.
Trevor White and Tim White, producers of Ingrid Goes West and King Richard fame, are set to produce under the banner of their company Star Thrower Entertainment, along with Johnson and Matthew Miller. Emily Rose will executive-produce a script penned by Lou Howe and Todd Bartels.
A24 is in negotiations to acquire the whole package, sources confirmed to Deadline. The company had no comment.
Bourdain catapulted to fame for pulling back the curtain on the work-hard, play-hard restaurant world on the page, first in a viral article for The New Yorker and subsequently in his 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential. He parlayed his profane, thrillingly acerbic voice and bad-boy persona into a second act as a journalist, documentarian, and philosopher-gourmand, traveling around the world to shoot a number of award-winning TV shows.
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He died by suicide in 2018 at the age of 61 while filming the 12th season of the CNN program Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.
It was not clear on Monday what part of Bourdain’s life Tony is set to cover. Sessa is 21.
Sessa became an overnight sensation in much the same way as Bourdain, but his success stemmed from his debut turn in last year’s The Holdovers.
His performance as a troubled, wise-cracking boarding school student earned him a Film Independent Spirit Award and a BAFTA nod. He is next set to appear in Liongate’s Now You See Me 3, which hits theaters next year.
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