Rising star Dominic Sessa is in talks to play late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain in an upcoming biopic.

The Holdovers breakout star is circling the lead role in Tony, which will be directed by Blackberry filmmaker Matt Johnson, according to Deadline.

Bourdain, who died by suicide in 2018 at the age of 61, is best known for hosting the travel and food shows No Reservations and Parts Unknown. It is not known what part of his life will be depicted in the film, which has been written by Lou Howe and Todd Bartels.

Sessa, 21, made his film debut alongside Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers last year and was widely praised for his performance. He went on to win the Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA.

He has been striking while the iron is hot and lining up projects ever since his breakthrough. He has already wrapped up filming the upcoming Christmas comedy Oh. What. Fun. and the Rose Byrne-led drama Tow and is currently making the third instalment in the Now You See Me franchise.

Tony isn’t the first film project about Bourdain; Morgan Neville released a documentary titled Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain in 2021. While the movie was a critical success, it sparked controversy for using artificial intelligence to reproduce the chef’s voice for certain audio clips.

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