Antonio Banderas Spills About A24 Anthony Bourdain Biopic

Work on an Anthony Bourdain biopic stalled — and Antonio Banderas enjoyed the experience.

“We spent a month and a half filming in Cape Cod and Newport, surrounded by the constant smell of fish,” he said, laughing. “Every time I came back to the hotel, I had to take a shower because I smelled absolutely foul – I was cleaning fish every day!”

Speaking at the Torino Film Festival, Banderas shed new light on the Matt Johnson-directed, A24-produced “Tony,” which reimagines an aimless young man turned chef turned globetrotter.

Banderas said, “After finishing university, (Bourdain) originally wanted to be a writer.” “But almost immediately, he began to struggle with depression and drug addiction, so the film explores the very difficult early years of his life.”

Banderas plays a Brazilian-born restaurant owner who takes young Tony — played by “The Holdovers” breakout Dominic Cessa — under his wing. “Through this relationship, Tony really starts to learn how to cook,” he said. “So this film is not just about dishes or culinary techniques; it is about his life, his identity and his way of being – shaped by this unique master.”

While the real Bourdain started out as a dishwasher at a restaurant run by Provincetown mainstay Ciro Cozzi, Banderas’s mentor is more of a composite character. He described the role as “a Brazilian man who works in the United States and has traveled around the world”.

Banderas continued, “My character attended the best institutions, graduated from the best gastronomy schools, yet he was always an outsider.” “He created his own restaurant outside the traditional world of elite chefs, developing his own cuisine with ingredients accessible to ordinary communities – simple food for everyday people.”

Indeed, in accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award in Turin, Banderas leaned heavily on his mentors – he even described his career as the product of chance encounters.

“I’m a theater actor,” he explained. “Cinema came by chance, thanks to Pedro Almodovar – a ‘chance’ that led to 130 films, but still, it was a chance. Theater was my first love, and for the past seven or eight years, I have returned to my home in Málaga and my real home on the stage. My life has changed, and now I am finally doing what was always supposed to be my life’s project.”

Actor Paul Newman – who was the subject of a 24-film retrospective at this year’s Torino Film Festival, and whose sharp blue eyes were reflected in the festival poster – was another formative figure in Banderas’ life.

“I worked in music gigs for a year in New York,” Banderas recalled. “One day I was singing on stage, and at a certain moment I saw Paul Newman staring at me with those eyes. I was completely stunned – it was incredibly powerful. We made a few movies together, and I worked with his wife Joanne Woodward on ‘Philadelphia.’ Was, ‘In exactly 2 minutes and 45 seconds, please bring me another one!’ I still think about him.”