EXCLUSIVE: Following his breakout role in the Oscar-winning dramedy The Holdovers, Dominic Sessa looks to have found his next high-profile project as sources tell Deadline he is attached to star as the late chef Anthony Bourdain in the biopic Tony from Oscar-nominated production company Star Thrower Entertainment. Sources also tell Deadline that A24 is in negotiations to acquire the package. Tim and Trevor White of Star Thrower are producing with Matt Johnson directing.
Lou Howe and Todd Bartels penned the script. Emily Rose will exec produce. A24 and Star Thrower had no comment.
Bourdain came up cooking various restaurants across Manhattan in the 80s and 90s including being the exec chef at Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan but it was his essay collection about the ugly secrets of restaurants that put him on the map. Following there publication in the New Yorker, Bourdain became an instant star on the media food scene due to his point-blank, tell it how it is tone that audiences were not accustom to. He would begin hosting a number of shows but it was his Travel Channel show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, that made him star over its eight season run.
Tragically, Bourdain passed away in 2018 after committing suicide. It is unknown at what point in his life this project will take place. Star Thrower is no stranger to the biopic having produced King Richard which earned them a best picture nomination and an Oscar for star Will Smith.
They just finished production on the A24 film Eternity. As for Sessa, the rising star has had his pick of projects to choose from following his star-making turn in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. While his co-stars Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph earned Oscar nominations (with Randolph would end up winning), Sessa held his own and earned strong reviews following the films festival premiere.
Johnson most recently directed the critically acclaimed dark comedy Blackberry. Johnson is represented by CAA and Chris Spicer at Akin Gump; Sessa is represented by CAA, Untitled, and Steve Warren at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Miller is represented by CAA and Chris Spicer at Akin Gump..
