Anthony Bourdain biopic: Dominic Sessa to play celebrity chef in 'Tony'

Los Angeles: The Holdovers star Dominic Sessa is set to essay the role of celebrity chef and food critic Anthony Bourdain in the biopic Tony, which also stars veteran actor Antonio Banderas.

The project hails from studio A24 and will be directed by Matt Johnson of Blackberry fame, reported Variety.

Sessa had been in talks for Tony since last summer, whereas Banderas' role is under wraps.

Set in 1976, the film will follow a young Bourdain as he undergoes a life-changing experience working and living in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Bourdain enrolled in culinary school two years after the events of the movie.

Bourdain, best known for his unscripted series Parts Unknown and No Reservations, was the former executive chef at New York's Brasserie Les Halles who shot to fame with the 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.

Bourdain died in 2018 by suicide at the age of 61 while filming the 12th season of Parts Unknown in Strasbourg, France.

Johnson will direct Tony from a script by Todd Bartels and Lou Howe. A24 will co-finance and co-produce with Star Thrower and Zapruder Films. Johnson will also co-produce via Zapruder with Matthew Miller.

Bourdain's estate representative Kimberly Witherspoon will serve as executive producer, alongside Chris Stinson, Amy Greene, Lou Howe, Bartels and Emily Rose.

Production on the film begins next month.