In Tony, A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life.
From director Matt Johnson (BLACKBERRY, NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE) comes the raucous and electric origin story of one of the most beloved icons of the modern era. Restless, reckless, overconfident, and hungry for something he couldn’t yet name, TONY offers an unexpected glimpse at the culinary legend before the world knew his name—and before Bourdain discovered the passion, purpose, and mentorship that would shape the rest of his life.
As Tony prepares to release in Australian cinemas on August 20, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the films editors and longtime collaborators of Matt Johnson’s, Curt Lobb and Robert Upchurch, about creating the feeling the time is eternal when you are young, and who their inspirations and influences were when they were upcoming creatives.
Nick: In this story, when Tony starts at The Flagship, he is taken in under the wing of this chef character played by Antonio Banderas. I’m curious for both of you, who was your “chef”, or your Antonio character, when you first started in the industry?
Curt Lobb: I was with this team right from the start. Director Matt Johnson, producer Matt Miller, and composer Jay McCarroll. They already had this group and they were making films. There was one called The Dirties, and that was right out of film school for me and the first thing I worked on as an assistant editor, and that’s kind of where Bobby came into it.
Robert Upchurch: Yeah, I saw the trailer for The Dirties, then I found the Nirvanna The Band web show and became a mega fan. I reached out and sent a cold email to Matt and his team saying all of these nice things, and also asking for an internship. The crazy thing was Matt was flying to America the next day, and he’s like, “If you’re in Arizona” – which is where I am from – “you should come and meet me at the airport because I have a layover there.” And so, I met him and became an intern. I really guess Curt was the first “chef” I had because I was his intern in the editing room of Operation Avalanche.
Nick: I love the hangout vibe that this movie has, and I feel a lot of that does come through the editing. You guys really let moments just sit and linger in certain moments that make the audience really feel like they’re in a natural conversation. It also reminded me of this feeling in your late teens and early twenties where time feels eternal. There is no rush to life, and you feel like time moves around you. I really feel like this movie captures that feeling so well. What is the technical process of creating that feeling?
CL: I really think it’s about knowing the momentum of where the movie is at, noticing where characters are sitting in that moment, and then dictating when it’s most enjoyable to milk those moments. It’s definitely a trial thing where you try some things out, and you can tell pretty quickly when you get a feel for it. I think we’re pretty honest about our work when we’re individually cutting scenes, or even when we share them with each other. We were so lucky on this movie where we could probably do that more often because it’s less of that documentary style that Matt is usually known for.
Nick: Is there a moment in the film for you Bobby where you felt like that “hangout” feeling really stuck out to you?
RU: A lot of it is written into the script, for sure. But one thing that comes to mind when you say “just sitting in it” is when Chef and Tony are making ketchup together and filling the salt. That was a vision Matt had from the beginning where in that scene we would just settle and watch them do that, and that alone would be interesting. I love the fact that it was just kind of baked in there. For me, it’s the first watch of the footage that is so important because that is where I am really seeing things fresh and realising, “Oh, I’ve been watching this shot for a long time, and if I’m riveted, maybe there’s a chance we don’t need to cut that down.”
CL: You gotta say spoiler, Bobby. You can’t let people know they make ketchup in the movie [laughs].
Nick: I’ll make sure I redact that important information [laughs]. What I liked about Tony as a person is his acute observation of things which often leads to him learning something about cooking, or more often allowing him to build his lies even more. It’s almost like observation is his superpower. How has the art of observation helped when you do as editors?
CL: For me, it’s all about being tuned into human faces and the little nuances that change in someone’s face, especially if they’re a really good actor and it’s not something overt. But, you need to be able to catch it, and if you catch it and put it on the screen, all humans can read it as well. It’s just about being the first one to make sure we’re bringing in all the best moments of nuance, I guess.
RU: I’ve noticed when I’m editing, it’ll be like late at night, I’m by myself looking at a screen in a dark room, and I’ve caught myself mimicking the faces that the actors are making, or responding without meaning to. But, I think that’s a good sign that you’re into it and feeling what the actors are giving, you know? That’s what is so great about editing, so much of it is just responding to what you’ve been given. And we were lucky with this movie and the performances we got.
Nick: Would you say you’re kind of watching that footage like you’re an audience member?
RU: Yeah, I think so for sure. I think that’s most people’s approach to cutting a film. But certainly for us, it’s letting the footage inform where the movie will go. It has to be organic. You find something and you’re like, “I guess that’s what this moment is about now”, and then building around that instead of just strictly following how the scene is written and jamming all those spots into their place.
Nick: I don’t know where I’m looking into this too much, but I felt like hands were a strong focus of the film. One of the first shots we see of Tony is his hands. Obviously he is learning to shuck oysters. Hands are burned and stabbed. Was there conversations with Matt about that being a focus of the film?
CL: Yeah, absolutely. The first thing that comes to mind is when he initially conceived that first fellowship pitch scene, Matt just wanted to focus on the hands the entire time. So, it was always on Matt’s mind, and he went in that shooting day thinking that’s how it would look in the edit. Then I think that just carried throughout the whole film. Ultimately, we wanted to see Tony’s face, especially while he is spinning his lies, but hands were definitely a focus.
RU: I thought of it as well like being in Tony’s POV. Whenever he is doing things like writing or cooking or whatever, it’s very intimate from his perspective. I won’t talk too much about what happens later on with his hands, but it was definitely intentional. It was also a result of how they set out to shoot this movie, which was with really tight coverage. But we definitely did talk about that. Plus, we really played into the ‘left hand is the devil’ type of stuff!
Nick: As a left-handed person, I can confirm there is probably a little bit of the devil in me [laughs]. While we’re still on the subject of hands still, it’s so apparent that they are such an important tool for chefs. But I also think that they are just an important tool for all types of creativity, including editing. Do you ever think about things like the muscle memory of your hands, and how they’re used to create something incredible?
RU: I’ll jump in and just say you should watch Curt edit because he really plays the keys like an instrument. It’s really wild to see. I aspire to be like that, but I’m a little slower. But, even for myself, we all have hot keys that help us get into a flow without realising what your hands are doing because you’re so focused on building a timeline. But honestly, there should be a video released of Curt’s hands while he’s editing.
CL: That’s very sweet. Thank you, Bobby. I do seem to remember in my journey of editing that my hands are never stopping my creative flow. I’m just about to continue doing what I think is right, and that’s a lucky spot to be in. I think in any artform or line of work, when you can just do and not get caught up in the physical aspect of the task, it’s great.
Nick: The film takes place in 1975, and we see footage of Jaws at a drive-in theatre. But if you look at the films of the time, there’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Three Days of the Condor, Dog Day Afternoon. I’m curious whether the editing styles and pacing of the films of 1975 influenced anything you did on Tony?
CL: It’s funny that you say Dog Day Afternoon, because that movie is awesome and there is an episode of Nirvanna The Band The Show that kind of parodies it with a bank robbery. But we were going to put clips of Dog Day Afternoon when they were at the drive-in, but legal reasons, maybe, came up and stopped us from doing it. But there are all very influential films.
Nick: You’re telling me the team who made the copyright nightmare Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie couldn’t get Dog Day Afternoon cleared [laughs]?
RU: [laughs] You know, it never came up as direct influences on Tony, but I am inspired by those films in general. So it’s definitely in there somewhere. I think we just approached what footage Matt gave us and knowing the style and filmmaking philosophies he enjoys. Like, he doesn’t want you to cut for any poor reason. It has to be a good reason, even if it’s to hide a flubbed take or something.
Nick: I’ll close out on this – how many shots and takes of Antonio throwing the water on Dominic did you have to go through?
RU: I feel like we used the best of them, and if anything we wanted more! I feel like they were trying to spare Dominic in some ways. Like you can see him getting woken up in so many different outfits, but I still think we could have used more!
CL: Antonio definitely got nicer with every splash. He started out pretty intense, and I think we used a lot of first takes!
Thank you to Curt and Robert for their time, and to A24 and Organic Publicity for organising the interview. Tony is in Australian cinemas August 20.
