The A24 biographical film Tony, directed by Matt Johnson and co-written by Lou Howe and Todd Bartels, reimagines the late Anthony Bourdain’s messy mid-1970s youth in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Starring Dominic Sessa as a college-age, misanthropic rebel, the movie explores the origins of a culinary legend who worked dishwashing and prep shifts at a seafood restaurant called The Flagship before achieving global fame.
From Arrogant Youth to Culinary Icon: The Real Provincetown Years
According to reporting by TIME, the new film portrays a young Bourdain who is obnoxious, talks himself up, and lies to everyone he meets, even pretending he is writing a book about the restaurant to impress a girl named Nancy. Co-screenwriter Lou Howe noted that the real Bourdain was brutally honest in critiquing his younger self, which gave the filmmakers freedom to depict his early faults. In his own memoir Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain described himself back then as angry and undisciplined, writing, “I treated the world like my ashtray.”
Alex Getmanov, a chef at The Flagship, noted in Laurie Woolever’s Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography that Bourdain “didn’t know anything, and he had this attitude that he could do anything, which doesn’t get you far in a working kitchen.” Despite this rocky start, Bourdain acknowledged that working in The Flagship’s kitchen “essentially pushed me down the path I still walk to this day,” as reported by TIME. As detailed by USA Today, while The Flagship has since closed, many other local Provincetown landmarks featured in the film—including Spiritus Pizza and Ciro & Sal’s—remain open today.
Fact Versus Fiction in the A24 Biopic
As detailed by USA Today, Tony takes notable creative liberties with Bourdain’s early life. Rather than following a standard Hollywood biopic structure, the movie uses composites for several key figures. Antonio Banderas plays the mild-mannered owner of The Flagship, known simply as Chef. Co-screenwriter Todd Bartels explained that Banderas’s character is a composite of several mentors Bourdain had in New York and Provincetown, most notably a boss nicknamed Bigfoot from Kitchen Confidential, while also symbolizing the historical Portuguese fishermen of Provincetown and representing “the righteous path: Tony at his best.”
The depiction of Bourdain’s romance also diverges from reality. In the film, Tony meets Nancy (played by Emilia Jones) and chases her to Provincetown to win her affection. In actual history, Bourdain and Nancy Putkoski were high-school sweethearts long before that summer, eventually marrying in 1985 before divorcing in 2005. Howe noted that because Putkoski is a very private person, the writers did not speak to her directly for the project, relying instead on archival accounts of their witty, intellectual connection. Similarly, the storyline of Tony lying about writing a book to impress Nancy was embellished for the screen, though Bourdain did indeed possess lifelong literary ambitions nurtured by his mother, Gladys, a longtime copy editor at the New York Times.
| Element | Real-Life History | Cinematic Depiction (A24 Film) |
|---|---|---|
| Relationship with Nancy | High-school sweethearts who married years later in 1985. | Tony chases Nancy to Provincetown while she is involved with another man. |
| The Flagship Mentor | Chefs and bosses like “Bigfoot” from Kitchen Confidential. | A composite character played by Antonio Banderas representing mentors and Portuguese fishermen. |
| Literary Pursuits | Wrote crime novels and essays over multiple years, influenced by his mother. | Fabricates a temporary book-writing project specifically to impress Nancy in Provincetown. |
References
- TIME. The True Story Behind Tony – TIME.
- USA Today. Is ‘Tony’ a true story? We fact check the Anthony Bourdain biopic.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, or professional advice.
