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Tony star Dominic Sessa breaks down everything he did to become Anthony Bourdain. The American actor talks through every step of his journey towards becoming Anthony: from watching Parts Unknown when researching Anthony’s mannerisms to fine-tuning Anthony’s signature look.Credits:Director: Kristen DeVoreDirector of Photography: Grant BellEditor: Brady JacksonTalent: Dominic SessaProducer: Sam DennisSenior Producer: Michael BeckertLine Producer: Jen SantosProduction Manager: Evie RoopTalent Booker: Lauren MendozaCamera Operator: Lucas VilicichSound Mixer: Glo HernandezProduction Assistant: Fernando Barajas; Hollie OrtizPost Production Supervisor: Jess DunnPost Production Coordinator: Stella ShortinoSupervising Editor: Rob LombardiAdditional Editor: Grant SponableAssistant Editor: Fynn LithgowExecutive Producer: Cara MarceanteDirector, Creative: Nick CollettDirector, Programming: Jeremy Clowney
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LifestyleTranscript
00:03Hi, GQ. My name is Dominic Sessa, and I'm here to talk about how I prepared to play Anthony Bourdain
00:09in the new movie, Tony.
00:17So I first heard about Tony, the movie, when I met Matt in New York.
00:23I mean, we talked to each other really personally just after meeting for about an hour.
00:27And through that, he sort of found an inspiration in this person and for the first time found a way
00:36into this character through my background and his background as well.
00:40And that's when it felt like, yeah, we could actually make a movie about Anthony Bourdain, you know?
00:48Hello?
00:50Mr. Bourdain, the committee has decided to go with another student for the fellowship.
00:54I had never auditioned for this movie.
00:57I mean, as much as Matt feels like he couldn't have made the movie unless he was doing it with
01:02me, I, vice versa, feel the same way.
01:04I couldn't have done the character justice.
01:06I couldn't have really tracked the trajectory that this character goes on without having someone like Matt supporting me through
01:13it.
01:13So coming off of my first movie, The Holdovers, I think all I wanted to do was make another movie.
01:20But sometimes there's a lot of big opportunities thrown your way and things that seem like big projects.
01:28And that was all kind of daunting to me or I didn't understand it and I didn't understand what I
01:33really wanted to make.
01:35I just knew that the first movie I did, I, people seemed to feel something.
01:40So my main priority was just getting on as many sets as possible and learning from people that knew a
01:47lot more than I did.
01:48You know, I don't think I could have felt confident playing this big of a role at that time.
01:54This is your Rubicon.
01:56Do not cross the Rubicon.
01:58The biggest thing I learned from Paul Giamatti about going about an acting career was just to do the things
02:06that you actually want to do.
02:08And Paul is a perfect example of that.
02:10The movie him and I did together, he got nominated for an Oscar, winning a bunch of things.
02:14And then he told me, like, I'm going to go do the Star Trek show after this, you know.
02:19So, like, for him, he's just staying true to what he loves.
02:24And it's not about trying to constantly find himself in these award-winning films or whatever it is.
02:31And that's never been, never been my focus.
02:33I want to do the things that I, I like the character, I like the people involved, and I have
02:39a fun time doing the part and also reading the script, you know.
02:50How did Anthony Bourdain originate in your life?
02:53Do you remember the first time you ever even heard of him?
02:55Probably just, like, walking around the house and my mom had him on TV or something.
03:05Insert joke here.
03:06Pre-YouTube, when I was really young, he was the first person that you could really get a sense of
03:12the rest of the world.
03:13In 2026, there's thousands of people who live, you know, have their own, all careers based on living some version
03:23of Bourdain's life, you know, traveling the world, documenting it, eating crazy food.
03:28I think he was kind of the first to start doing that thing.
03:30And that's always how I thought of him.
03:33But before doing this movie, he really, he didn't live in a significant part of my soul or of the,
03:40you know, in the way that I operated in life, as he does for millions and millions of people.
03:45I don't think I could have really done this movie had that been the case.
03:57What was really beautiful about this and Matt and I's relationship with Anthony Bourdain as a person is that we
04:05were never trying to create some sort of image that we had in our mind of him or reach some
04:10sort of standard.
04:12I think we were constantly every day trying to figure out who this person was and what maybe they would
04:19have done in this situation and what their feelings about the world are.
04:23And if we were coming from a place of already, in our minds, believing or knowing what that is, then
04:30we would have, we couldn't have focused on the right things, which is being honest and truthful to how this
04:37person is receiving their environment.
04:40And, uh, the circumstances that they find themselves in, in this summer that we've fictionalized, you know, there was no
04:47audio recordings, no videos of this person at the time.
04:50Like I had maybe 20 photos that I really kind of referenced and from like 16 to in his thirties,
04:59uh, that was the only way I felt comfortable doing this.
05:02I was like, okay, I, nobody can really tell me I'm wrong for the most part.
05:07So I have agency in this. I have, I have, um, a certain level of power, you know, in, in,
05:14in the decisions I make.
05:15And that was freeing. I don't think I would have, especially now been open to doing like a, a biopic
05:22where I, I feel like I really have to in a, be that person in a dogmatic sense, you know?
05:29It was 1980. I was 24 years old, but in a lot of ways, my whole life up to that
05:34point was leading to this address.
05:36There is a moment in parts unknown where he goes to Provincetown and it's the episode where he's visiting a
05:43lot of the places that we filmed in.
05:44And, and he's walking on the beach at the end of the episode. And it's very like overcast day. It's
05:51not necessarily like, you know, Cape Cod at its peak.
05:55It's cold and windy. And he's kind of looking around and he asks himself, like, I don't know what I
06:01was so angry about at the time.
06:03This is paradise. And for me, that was really what I understood about this person at the time.
06:13And, and what it was like being there was, it was magical. Like Provincetown is one of the most beautiful
06:19places I've ever experienced.
06:22And, you know, the people included and to be so angry and beside yourself in a place like that is,
06:29I don't know.
06:30That's what it's like being a young person. I think you're not able to see the bright side of things
06:35right in front of you.
06:36And I think that's a really strong thing that audiences are confronted with in the movies, this sort of picturesque
06:43heavenly place that this angry young man is kind of stomping through.
06:47The biggest thing was, you know, for us, the things that we tried to fictionalize were kind of iconic parts
06:55of him, you know, like things that are pretty instantly recognizable with Bourdain.
06:59And like, I don't know, like smoking cigarettes, for example, we very easily could have just started the movie with
07:06him having a cigarette in his mouth.
07:07That's who Anthony Bourdain is. He's, he smokes cigarettes.
07:10But in this movie, it was like me and Matt decided Leo is going to be the first person to
07:14hand him a cigarette, even though probably in real life, he smoked cigarettes way before this time.
07:19We wanted to show how the people around him, the mentors, like the people he talks about in Kitchen Confidential,
07:26the sous chefs, the line cooks, the way that they live within this person as he continued his life.
07:32So having those little details to show, you know, like as he describes in the book, like really how these
07:39people live with him, and they're nameless in a lot of his writing.
07:42You know, you know, the chef he talks about Bigfoot, who's really, really the main source of, of, of building
07:48Antonio's character, as much as that person lives so intently in his mind, and specifically, all of these people he
07:56worked with have, have lended towards the kind of icon that people recognize.
08:06I think the hair was the biggest thing for me, our incredible hairdresser, Gordon, he put these extensions in me
08:14day one, and they never fell out over a month.
08:18And my hair was disgusting, but it was just, just right for, for what I needed to do.
08:24But I also kind of, I, I was eating a lot less, that, uh, was something that was familiar to
08:31me when I kind of was working on the beaches in the summer.
08:35I grew up in Ocean City, and similarly was working during the summers, uh, I worked in a bakery and
08:43was drinking a lot, and that was kind of the result of that, was not eating very healthy, not getting
08:49a lot of nutrition,
08:50and the effect that it had on my body was turning me into basically a skeleton.
08:55So I kind of returned to that when filming this, and I noticed when I look back, like, I'm much
09:01thinner and frail and sort of innocent.
09:04There's a, there's an element of weakness, you know, that I think was really important to how he existed, especially
09:10stacked up against Stavros and Leo and Antonio,
09:15or kind of these larger-than-life, not only emotionally, but physically, these, these, these presences that are surrounding him.
09:23The clothing was really, especially the pants, like, yeah, very 70s, I guess, what I'm wearing,
09:29where I didn't feel as confident kind of leading with my, my chest and my stomach as much,
09:35because you're wearing, like, these cropped shirts and these sort of, uh, like, cropped pants, so a lot of people
09:42were really open to the bulge, you know, with tight pants.
09:46So that was something that I was like, you know, just of the time, and, uh, it changes how you,
09:52how you, how you walk into a room, you know,
09:54like, just the kind of the shape you make, it, it, it, you're, you're trying to hide things almost,
09:58but then when I'm wearing this, uh, chef's coat for the first time, kind of something I was going off
10:04with the photos,
10:05like, once he started working in a way more professionally, you see how his body opens up to people,
10:12and his shoulders open up to the world, and he's receiving a lot more than he's kind of guarding, um,
10:18and, yeah, I mean, I, like, the scenes where I'm getting water dumped on me, I'm in my underwear, so,
10:25pretty vulnerable.
10:28Do you have any idea how many times he'd done that?
10:30I'm saying, like, 35 now. It's probably my good guess.
10:34Because they, they didn't, they didn't do it in one day, like I hoped they would have.
10:39It was like, we were moving so fast, so any time we had an extra 20 minutes, uh, it was,
10:46Dom, underwear, bucket, let's go.
10:50As many, as many water takes as we could get, Matt got them.
10:58This was, uh, certainly an emotional workout in a lot of ways, just because Matt really wanted me to be
11:05open and welcome to addressing and bringing forth the sides of myself that I really don't enjoy, you know?
11:12And that's, this quote that opens the movie is on the poster.
11:16Tony describes himself as a thoughtless, narcissistic, young guy needing to get his ass kicked.
11:23That is so much of my life.
11:27And realizing that is, uh, uh, important.
11:31Even now, I, I look at myself a year ago, two years ago, and there's so much of that that
11:38is, that is true.
11:39Just kind of a young man's, uh, instinct to protect their ego, you know?
11:44And, and, and want to demand respect from people and, and, and be respected and be looked at as an
11:49adult, you know?
11:50And for me, it was that same admission that I had to make to myself.
11:55I had to look myself in the mirror and say, okay, these are the times in your life where you
12:00were wrong and you were an asshole to people.
12:04And this was not about anybody else but yourself and the things that you haven't addressed yet.
12:09And this, if anything, was an opportunity for me to, at a really important time in my life, address the
12:16sides of myself that are not true or disingenuous or, uh, or as a facade, you know?
12:22And, and I really stopped acting as much as I have in the past, just in my life.
12:27Uh, that's what people admire so much about Bourdain, really, is they didn't feel like they were watching.
12:34Someone who was putting something on or acting.
12:36He was unapologetically speaking and breathing and living from his own soul.
12:42And I think that's what I'm trying to do.
12:44So I went to a restaurant called Gertrude's in Brooklyn and Eli Sussman, he's the head chef and owns the
12:52place.
12:53He was the guy that took me on like a, a restaurant tour in New York.
12:58He, he introduced me to a lot of, uh, chefs and restaurant owners in the city and also taught me.
13:04How to, how to shuck some oysters, which was very kind of him.
13:08I didn't learn to appreciate the restaurant industry until, especially in New York, in New York City, until making this
13:14movie.
13:14I mean, these, these people I met who have worked their whole lives to, to be able to open their
13:20own place and create their own menu.
13:22They go into this knowing that even if I have a really successful restaurant, there's a, there's probably a low
13:28chance that it's going to sustain, you know.
13:30And after, after 10 years, having a place in New York with the, the rents that change and, and, and
13:37everything like that, it's, it's really, really hard to, to keep something like that going.
13:42So the idea that most of these people are, are starting this thing, going into it, knowing that they'll likely
13:50fail is, uh, crazy to me.
13:53It absolutely, uh, helps you understand like someone like Antonio's character, you know, and what he really cares about.
14:01And I think Tony learns that it's like this guy is, this is all he has, you know, but it's
14:05so important to him that it has an effect on someone like this, this young, you know, narcissist.
14:11Right. Antonio Banderas owns eight restaurants. I'm bragging for him.
14:16I was able to visit one of them or a couple of them actually.
14:19And when I visited him in Malaga and he taught me how to make a paella, but everything else, everything
14:24else in the movie that you see Antonio cooking and me there, he learned how to make, I mean, he
14:29went to one of his restaurants before filming, had a list of all the stuff he had to make and
14:35really prepped for it.
14:36When we got on set, the case was that I would go into the kitchen. Matt would just say, all
14:41right, Antonio is going to teach you how to make a lobster thermidor.
14:45And I want you to try to learn how to do it. And we're going to be shooting it. And
14:49that was a lot of the kitchen stuff, you know, like no script.
14:52And it's my, it's some of my favorite moments in the movie when, when Antonio is kind of just explaining
14:59to me things and telling me like, put that oil in the pan.
15:02And it's like the only way they can effectively communicate with each other, you know, and it's, it's, uh, really
15:09beautiful to me. Yeah.
15:14I never wanted to look like I was trying to be taller, you know, like standing up straight because Bourdain
15:21was taller than, I mean, he's like six, four or something.
15:24Uh, and I'm like five foot 11. So I think standing in that way, it's like a very, I have
15:31really tall friends and they're always kind of, when they're over, you know, like six, two, and they're getting to
15:36that, like head hitting the door height.
15:38There's a, there's a compensation for that, you know? And I think that was just a reaction to knowing that
15:44I'm much shorter than the real guy.
15:46I met with my, my, uh, dialect coach from college actually. And we were talking about the idea of like
15:54a voice and what it could sound like.
15:57And then pretty early on, it was just, this is, it felt ridiculous. You know, I felt like nobody knows
16:03what he sounded like then.
16:04I'm from New Jersey. I think I talk similarly enough to him. He uses the word extraordinary a lot. Like
16:10he'll, he'll eat something and say like, oh, this is extraordinary.
16:13Extraordinary.
16:14He'll drop some consonants, like rather than saying interesting, he'll say interesting and, you know, like drop the T on
16:20those sorts of words.
16:21But I already kind of did that already. So not that we were being too specific about it, but I
16:27think, yeah, I didn't want to be sounding like a completely different person.
16:31To be completely honest, uh, I was trying to live this, this summer, not so much thinking I'm Anthony Bourdain,
16:39but thinking I am, I'm a 19 year old boy chasing this girl and working here so I can do
16:47it.
16:48And believing that was pretty easy for me.
16:52I think one thing that he said, and I can't remember where I heard it from was probably an episode
16:58of one of his shows, but he said, the definition of cool is not giving a shit. That is exactly
17:03how I feel.
17:04I, I feel like I'm constantly surrounded by people in this work that, uh, are perceived as cool, but a
17:12lot of them give a shit.
17:13And he is a perfect example of, I think exactly what it means to be cool, be yourself, surround yourself
17:21with the people that you really love and are true, true friends, not just people that you want to be
17:26seen around sort of thing.
17:28Keep your history close to you. Your history is important.
17:31And I think every day he, he honored his history as a, as a blue collar guy, working in a,
17:38working in a kitchen, someone who struggled real life struggles.
17:42And even when he became this celebrity, that's, that's what he was honoring every single day.
17:50And that's what I try to do. I know where I came from. I know who the people are that,
17:54that, that changed me and made me.
17:56So it is my duty to honor that.
17:59So it's my duty to honor that.
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