MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In his New York Times bestseller "Kitchen Confidential," Anthony Bourdain describes his improbable rise to celebrity chef stardom from, in his own words, a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout badly in need of a good a** kicking. The new film "Tony" tells the story of that summer where he got that a** kicking, with some ample helpings of artistic license, of course. Tony takes a job as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Provincetown on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TONY")
DOMINIC SESSA: (As Tony) You know, I can cook, too.
ANTONIO BANDERAS: (As Chef) Excuse me.
STAVROS HALKIAS: (As Stavros) He says he's a cook, Chef.
BANDERAS: (As Chef) Yeah, wonderful.
SESSA: (As Tony) I'm not a cook. I'm a writer. I said I could cook.
HALKIAS: (As Stavros) Oh, I'm sorry.
MARTIN: And Dominic Sessa stars as Tony, and he is with us now. Good morning, Dominic. Thanks so much for joining us.
SESSA: Good morning. How's it going?
MARTIN: Did you know anything about Anthony Bourdain? Or, like, what did you know about him before you started working on this film?
SESSA: Nothing, really. I mean, I knew of him. I don't know. I guess I probably saw some YouTube videos of him. I saw him on the TV. My mom was probably watching his shows.
MARTIN: I would have been that mom watching Anthony Bourdain (laughter).
SESSA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: What about this project attracted you?
SESSA: For one, it was an opportunity to learn about this person who I had an awareness of and knew was kind of seen as this prophet. After he died, a lot of people in my generation started to read his work and become more interested in him because it's such a specific time in his life that's not documented fully, but in that, we were able to tell and express a lot of our own stories, you know. And I think that was really attractive.
MARTIN: So would you say that there are kind of some parallels between Anthony Bourdain's story and yours in the sense that you were a hockey player. You were playing at Deerfield. You thought that was going to be your path, and then you had an injury, a serious injury.
SESSA: Yeah. And the way we tell the story in the movie, the character has this ambition to be, like, you know, the next great American novelist. And then, right, this environment is sort of thrust upon him. And for me, similarly, like, I was - I play hockey. Like, this is what I'm going do, but really didn't have anything to show for it. At a certain point, I made a choice to kind of do something that I knew it was going to be hard and I knew I was going to be uncomfortable in, but in that, I found something that I actually had control with, you know? And I think similarly, Tony, he starts to develop a sense of self-control and self-awareness and direction.
MARTIN: And it's a coming-of-age story, like your breakout film debut. How did that experience working on "The Holdovers" prepare you for this role?
SESSA: I was surrounded by the best possible people. It's easy, I think, when you're, like, a teenager, in your early 20s and you're on movie sets, you can get easily corrupted, you know?
(LAUGHTER)
SESSA: If you're around the wrong people.
MARTIN: Why is it? Because people are always, like, dabbing your brow or whatever?
SESSA: Yeah. Yeah.
MARTIN: Like, I've never been on one, so you have to tell me.
SESSA: No, yeah. They treat you like you're made of glass sometimes. And sometimes you need to get your a** kicked.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: On this film, you got to work with Antonio Banderas. He was, like, the chef and the mentor who starts to teach you more skills. What was that like? I mean, he's a goat in his own right.
SESSA: Yeah. I mean, he's such a legend. Well, I'm looking at this, like, you know, like, is he going to, like, start bossing me around? Like, but he gave everybody, like, so much space, and him doing everything possible to make me better. For someone like him to do that means the world just for a young actor like myself.
MARTIN: Your character is kind of a jerk.
SESSA: Yeah, yeah (laughter).
MARTIN: Like, as a mom myself, I really wanted to, like, snatch him up and be like...
SESSA: Of course.
MARTIN: Excuse me.
(LAUGHTER)
SESSA: Yeah. Shut up.
MARTIN: Get it together. Yeah.
SESSA: (Laughter) When I think about myself, there's always something that I can look - point at and be like, this behavior of mine is a result of me being immature, you know, young man. And I'm constantly trying to, you know, play this role of, like, an adult and someone who's got it together and is mature, right? And, like, I think that's the pressure a lot of us face at a young age. And within us all is kind of this experimental phase that we're in that we need to explore and make mistakes. And I don't look at that behavior as, like, defining characteristics, you know, like, it's just kind of a byproduct of the growing pains we're all going through, you know? And I think that's why it's relatable, and you understand it's really a reaction to something that's so innate to the human experience.
MARTIN: Is it something that you think is a particular burden/challenge for young men, to feel like they have to project who they are before they really are who they are?
SESSA: Yeah. I mean, I think for sure. It's a big reason, you know, something, like, important to us in telling the story because, yeah, I mean, I still do that. You know, like, if I'm on a date or something, I try to use big words to, like, sound more intelligent than I am (laughter). And, like, it's wanting respect and wanting to be viewed in a way, kind of like wearing and masking this status that you haven't necessarily earned yet. I think, in our lives, doing these things that were genuinely hard and putting ourselves in difficult situations so that we could sort of be beaten down and realize that you know, leading with integrity and actually doing something truthfully and honestly - that's the only way you can actually earn respect in this world and be viewed at - viewed as a man, you know?
MARTIN: You know, gosh, it sounds like working on this film wasn't just a job, in a way, for you. It sounds almost like a journey for - of self-discovery for you, if I can can put it that way.
SESSA: Of course. Yeah. What was so lucky about doing this kind of work, you know, I - it's fun to be able to act and, like, play characters, but when you get - this is, you know, unique opportunity, was, you know, working with someone like Matt, who...
MARTIN: Matt Johnson being the...
SESSA: Director.
MARTIN: Director.
SESSA: Matt really encouraged me to go through this process and walk out, you know, a better person, at least a little bit. And he really wanted this to change and me in a good way.
MARTIN: That is Dominic Sessa. He stars as Anthony Bourdain in the new film "Tony." Dominic, thanks so much for talking with us. Congratulations.
SESSA: Thank you for having me. Have a good one.
MARTIN: And let me note here that Tony is produced by A24, which is a financial supporter of NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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